SPEECH 


DELIVERED  BY 


DANIEL  WEBSTER 


AT  NIBLO'S  SALOON,  IN  NEW-YORK, 


ON  THE  15th  MARCH,  1837. 


NEW-YORK  : 
PRINTED  BY  HARPER  &  BROTHERS,  82  CLIFF-ST. 

1  8  3  7. 


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SEYMOUR  DURST 


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SPEECH 

DELIVERED  BV 

DANIEL  WEBSTER 

AT  N1BL0  S  SALOON,  IN  NEW- YORK, 
ON  THE  15th  MARCH,  1837. 


The  proceedings  and  correspondence  which  preceded  the  delivery  of 
the  speech  now  published  are  as  follows  : — 

At  a  meeting  of  the  political  friends  of  the  Hon.  Daniel  Webster, 
held  at  Euterpian  Hall,  in  the  city  of  New- York,  on  Tuesday  evening, 
the  21st  February,  1837,  James  Kent  was  called  to  the  chair,  and 
Hiram  Ketchum  and  Gabriel  P.  Dissosway  were  appointed  secretaries. 

The  object  of  the  meeting  having  been  explained,  the  following 
resolutions  were,  on  motion,  duly  seconded  and  unanimously  adopted. 

Resolved,  That  this  meeting  has  heard  with  deep  concern  of  the  in- 
tention of  the  Hon.  Daniel  Webster  to  resign  his  seat  in  the  Senate  of 
the  United  States  at  the  close  of  the  present  session  of  Congress,  or 
early  in  the  next  session. 

Resolved,  That  while  we  regret  the  resignation  of  Mr.  Webster,  it 
would  be  most  unreasonable  to  censure  the  exercise  of  his  right  to  seek 
repose,  after  fourteen  years  of  unremitted,  zealous,  and  highly  distin- 
guished labours  in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States ;  but  we  indulge 
the  hope  that  the  nation  will,  at  no  distant  day,  again  profit  by  his  ripe 
experience  as  a  statesman  and  his  extensive  knowledge  of  public  affairs, 
by  his  wisdom  in  council  and  his  eloquence  in  debate. 

Resolved,  That  in  the  judgment  of  this  meeting  there  is  none  among 
the  living  or  the  dead  who  has  given  to  the  country  more  just  or  able 
exposition  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States ;  none  who  has  en- 
forced, with  more  lucid  and  impassioned  eloquence,  the  necessity  and 
importance  of  the  preservation  of  the  Union,  or  exhibited  more  zeal  or 
ability  in  defending  the  Constitution  from  foes  without  the  government 
and  foes  within  it,  than  Daniel  Webster. 

Resolved,  That  there  is  no  part  of  our  widely-extended  country  mor© 
deeply  interested  in  the  preservation  of  the  Union  than  the  city  of 
New -York ;  her  motto  should  be  "  Union  and  Liberty,  now  and  for  ever. 


2 


one  and  inseparable,"  and  her  gratitude  should  be  shown  to  the  states- 
man who  first  gave  utterance  to  this  sentiment. 

Resolved,  That  David  B.  Ogden,  Peter  Stagg,  Jonathan  Thompson, 
James  Brown,  Philip  Hone,  Samuel  Stevens,  Robert  Smith,  Joseph 
Tucker,  Peter  Sharpe,  Egbert  Benson,  Hugh  Maxwell,  Peter  A.  Jay, 
Aaron  Clark,  Ira  B.  Wheeler,  William  W.  Todd,  Seth  Grosvenor, 
Simeon  Draper,  Jr.,  Wm.  Aspinwall,  Nathaniel  WTeed,  Jonathan  Good 
hue,  Caleb Barstow, Hiram  Ketchum,  Gabriel  P.  Dissosway,  Henry  K. 
Bogert,  James  Kent,  Wm.  S.  Johnson,  and  John  W.  Leavitt,  Esqs.,  be 
a  committee  authorized  and  empowered  to  receive  the  Hon.  Daniel 
Webster  on  his  return  from  Washington,  and  make  known  to  him,  in 
the  form  of  an  address  or  otherwise,  the  sentiments  which  this  meet- 
ing, in  common  with  the  friends  of  the  Union  and  the  Constitution  in 
this  city,  entertain  for  the  services  which  he  has  performed  for  the 
country ;  that  the  committee  correspond  with  Mr.  Webster,  and  ascer- 
tain the  time  when  his  arrival  may  be  expected,  and  give  public  notice 
of  the  same,  together  with  the  order  of  proceedings  which  may  be 
adopted  under  these  resolutions. 

Resolved,  That  these  resolutions,  signed  by  the  Chairman  and  Secre- 
taries, be  published  when  the  committee  shall  notify  the  public  of  the 
expected  arrival  of  Mr.  Webster. 

JAMES  KENT,  Chairman. 

Hiram  Ketchum,  >  Secretaries. 

Gabriel  P.  Dissosway,  J 

New- York,  March  1,  1837. 
Sir — It  having  been  currently  reported  that  you  have  signified  your 
intention  to  resign  your  seat  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  a  num- 
ber of  the  friends  of  the  Union  and  the  Constitution  in  this  city  were 
convened  on  the  evening  of  the  21st  of  last  month,  to  devise  measures 
whereby  they  might  signify  to  you  the  sentiments  which  they,  in  com- 
mon with  all  the  Whigs  in  this  city,  entertain  for  the  eminent  services 
you  have  rendered  to  the  country.  At  a  meeting  the  Hon.  James  Kent 
was  called  to  the  chair,  and  resolutions,  a  copy  of  which  I  enclose  you, 
were  adopted,  not  only  with  entire  unanimity,  but  with  a  feeling  of 
warm  and  hearty  concurrence.  On  behalf  of  the  committee  appointed 
under  one  of  these  resolutions,  I  now  have  the  honour  to  address  you. 
It  will  be  gratifying  to  the  committee  to  learn  from  you  at  what  time 
you  expect  to  arrive  in  this  city  on  your  return  to  Massachusetts ;  if  in- 
formed of  the  time  of  your  arrival,  it  will  afford  the  committee  pleasure 
to  meet  you,  and,  in  behalf  of  the  Whigs  of  New-York,  to  welcome  you, 
and  to  present  you,  in  a  more  extended  form  than  the  resolutions  pre- 
sent, their  views  of  your  public  services.  I  am  instructed  by  the  com- 
mittee to  say,  that  whether  you  shall  choose  to  appear  among  us  as  a 
public  man  or  as  a  private  citizen,  you  will  be  warmly  greeted  by  every 
sound  friend  of  that  Constitution  for  which  you  have  been  so  distin- 
guished a  champion.  Should  your  resolution  to  resign  your  seat  in  the 
Senate  be  relinquished,  you  will,  in  the  opinion  of  the  committee,  im- 
pose new  obligations  upon  the  friends  of  the  Union  and  the  Constitution. 
I  have  the  honour  to  be,  very  truly, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

D.  B.  OGDEN. 

Hon.  Daniel  Webster,  Washington. 


3 


Washington,  March  4th,  1837. 

My  dear  Sir — I  have  the  honour  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  your 
letter  of  the  2d  instant,  communicating  the  resolutions  at  a  meeting  of  a 
number  of  political  friends  in  New-York. 

The  character  of  these  resolutions,  and  the  kindness  of  the  senti- 
ments expressed  in  your  letter,  have  filled  me  with  unaffected  gratitude. 

I  feel,  at  the  same  time,  how  little  deserving  any  political  services  of 
mine  are  of  such  commendation  from  such  a  source.  To  the  discharge 
of  the  duties  of  my  public  situation,  sometimes  both  anxious  and  diffi- 
cult, I  have  devoted  time  and  labour  without  reserve  ;  and  have  made 
sacrifices  of  personal  and  private  convenience  not  always  unimportant. 
These,  together  with  integrity  of  purpose  and  fidelity,  constitute,  I  am 
conscious,  my  only  claim  to  the  public  regard :  and  for  all  these  I  find 
myself  richly  compensated  by  proofs  of  approbation  such  as  your  com- 
munication affords. 

My  desire  to  relinquish  my  seat  in  the  Senate  for  the  two  years  still 
remaining  of  the  term  for  which  I  was  chosen,  would  have  been  car- 
ried into  execution  at  the  close  of  the  present  session  of  the  Senate,  had 
not  circumstances  existed  which,  in  the  judgment  of  others,  rendered 
it  expedient  to  defer  the  fulfilment  of  that  purpose  for  the  present. 

It  is  my  expectation  to  be  in  New- York  early  in  the  week  after  next ; 
and  it  will  give  me  pleasure  to  meet  the  political  friends  who  have  ten- 
dered me  this  kind  and  respectful  attention  in  any  manner  most  agree- 
able to  them. 

I  pray  you  to  accept  for  yourself,  and  the  other  gentlemen  of  the  com- 
mittee, my  highest  regard. 

DANIEL  WEBSTER. 

To  D.  B.  Ogden,  Esq.,  New-York. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  committee,  appointed  under  the  above  resolution, 
Philip  Hone,  Robert  Smith,  John  W.  Leavitt,  Egbert  Benson,  Ira  B. 
Wheeler,  Caleb Barstow, Simeon  Draper,  Jr.,  and  Win.  Samuel  Johnson, 
Esqrs.,  were  appointed  a  sub-committee,  to  make  arrangements  for  the 
reception  of  Mr.  Webster.  The  committee  have  corresponded  with 
Mr.  Webster,  and  ascertained  that  he  will  leave  Philadelphia  on  the 
morning  of  Wednesday  next — he  will  be  met  by  the  committee,  and,  on 
landing  at  Whitehall,  at  about  2  o'clock  on  Wednesday  afternoon, 
will  thence  be  conducted  by  the  committee,  accompanied  by  such  other 
citizens  as  choose  to  join  them,  to  a  place  hereafter  to  be  designated. 
In  the  evening,  at  half  past  six  o'clock,  he  will  be  addressed  by  the 
committee,  in  a  public  meeting  of  citizens,  at  Niblo's  Saloon. 

D.  B.  OGDEN,  Chairman. 

On  the  subsequent  day,  March  15th,  the  committee  appointed  for  that 
purpose  met  Mr.  Webster  at  Amboy,  and  accompanied  him  to  the  city, 
where  he  was  met,  on  landing,  by  a  very  numerous  assemblage  of  citi- 
zens, who  thronged  to  see  the  distinguished  senator,  and  give  him  a 
warm  welcome ;  after  landing,  he  was  attended  by  the  committee  and  a 
numerous  cavalcade  through  Broadway,  crowded  with  the  most  respect- 
able citizens,  to  lodgings  provided  for  him  at  the  American  Hotel.  Here 
he  made  a  short  address  to  the  assembled  citizens,  and  in  the  evening 
was  accompanied  by  the  committee  to  Xiblo's  Saloon.  One  of  the  lar- 
gest meetings  ever  held  in  the  city  of  New- York  assembled  in  the  Sa- 
loon, and  at  half  past  six  o'clock  was  called  to  order  by  Aaron  Clark; 
David  B.  Ogden  was  called  to  the  chair  as  President  of  the  meeting ; 
Robert  C.  Cornell,  Jonathan  Goodhue,  Joseph  Tucker,  and  Nathaniel 


4 


Weed  were  nominated  Vice-Presidents  ;  and  Joseph  Hoxie  and  George 
S.  Robbins  Secretaries. 

After  the  meeting  was  formed,  Philip  Hone  introduced  Mr.  Webster 
with  a  few  appropriate  remarks,  and  he  was  received  with  the  most  en- 
thusiastic greetings.  Mr.  Ogden  then  delivered  to  him  the  following 
address : — 

"  On  behalf  of  a  committee,  appointed  at  a  meeting  of  a  number  of 
your  personal  and  political  friends  in  this  city,  I  have  now  the  honour 
of  addressing  you. 

"  It  has  afforded  the  committee,  and,  I  may  add,  all  your  political  friends, 
unmingled  pleasure  to  learn  that  you  have,  at  least  for  the  present,  re- 
linquished the  intention  which  I  know  you  had  formed  of  resigning 
your  seat  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States.  While  expressing  their 
feelings  upon  this  change  in  your  determination,  the  committee  cannot 
avoid  congratulating  the  country  that  your  public  services  are  not  yet 
to  be  lost  to  it,  and  that  the  great  champion  of  the  Constitution  and  of 
the  Union  is  still  to  continue  in  the  field,  upon  which  he  has  earned  so 
many  laurels,  and  has  so  nobly  asserted  and  defended  the  rights  and  lib- 
erties of  the  People. 

"  The  efforts  made  by  you,  and  the  honourable  men  with  whom  you 
have  acted  in  the  Senate,  to  resist  executive  encroachments  upon  the 
other  departments  of  the  government,  will  ever  be  remembered  with 
gratitude  by  the  friends  of  American  liberty.  That  these  efforts  were 
not  more  successful,  we  shall  long  have  reason  to  remember  and  regret. 
The  administration  of  General  Jackson  is  fortunately  at  an  end.  Its  ef- 
fects upon  the  Constitution  and  upon  the  commercial  prosperity  of  the 
country  are  not  at  an  end.  Without  attempting  to  review  the  leading 
measures  of  his  administration,  every  man  engaged  in  business  in  New- 
York  feels,  most  sensibly,  that  his  experiment  upon  the  currency  has 
produced  the  evils  which  you  foretold  it  would  produce.  It  has  brought 
distress,  to  an  extent  never  before  experienced,  upon  the  men  of  enter- 
prise and  of  small  capital,  and  has  put  all  the  primary  power  in  the  hands 
of  a  few  great  capitalists. 

"  Upon  the  Senate  our  eyes  and  our  hopes  are  fixed ;  we  know  that 
you  and  your  political  friends  are  in  a  minority  in  that  body,  but  we 
know  that  in  that  minority  are  to  be  found  great  talents,  great  experi- 
ence, great  patriotism,  and  we  look  fcyr  great  and  continued  exertions  to 
maintain  the  Constitution,  the  Union,  and  the  liberties  of  this  people.  And 
we  take  this  opportunity  of  expressing  our  entire  confidence,  that  what- 
ever men  can  do  in  a  minority  will  be  done  in  the  Senate  to  relieve 
the  country  from  the  evils  under  which  she  is  now  labouring,  and  to 
save  her  from  being  sacrificed  by  folly,  corruption,  or  usurpation. 

"  It  gives  me,  sir,  pleasure  to  be  the  organ  of  the  committee  to  ex- 
press to  you  their  great  respect  for  your  talents,  their  deep  sense  of  the 
importance  of  your  public  services,  and  their  gratification  to  learn  that 
you  will  still  continue  in  the  Senate." 

To  this  address  Mr.  Webster  replied  in  the  following 


SPEECH. 


"WE  HAVE  ONE  COUNTRY— ONE  CONSTITUTION 
—ONE  DESTINY." 

Mr.  Chairman,  and  Fellow-Citizens  : — 

It  would  be  idle  in  me  to  affect  to  be  indifferent  to  the  cir- 
cumstances under  which  I  have  now  the  honour  of  addressing  you. 

I  find  mvself  in  the  Commercial  Metropolis  of  the  Continent, 
in  the  midst  of  a  vast  assembly  of  intelligent  men,  drawn  from 
all  the  classes,  professions,  and  pursuits  of  life. 

And  you  have  been  pleased,  Gentlemen,  to  meet  me,  in  this 
imposing  manner,  and  to  offer  me  a  warm  and  cordial  welcome  to 
your  city.  I  thank  you.  I  feel  the  full  force  and  importance 
of  this  manifestation  of  your  regard.  In  the  highly  flattering  res- 
olutions which  invited  me  here,  in  the  respectability  of  this  vast 
multitude  of  my  Fellow- Citizens,  and  in  the  approbation  and 
hearty  good-will  which  you  have  here  manifested,  I  feel  cause 
for  profound  and  grateful  acknowledgment. 

To  every  individual  of  this  meeting,  therefore,  I  would  now 
most  respectfully  make  that  acknowledgment ;  and  with  every 
one,  as  if  with  hands  joined  in  mutual  greeting,  I  reciprocate 
friendly  salutation,  respect,  and  good  wishes. 

But,  Gentlemen,  although  I  am  well  assured  of  your  personal 
regard,  I  cannot  fail  to  know  that  the  times,  the  political  and 
commercial  condition  of  things  which  exists  among  us,  and  an 
intelligent  spirit,  awakened  to  new  activity  and  a  new  degree  of 
an-iety,  have  mainly  contributed  to  fill  these  avenues  and  crowd 
these  halls.  At  a  moment  of  difficulty  and  of  much  alarm,  you 
come  here,  as  Whigs  of  New-York,  to  meet  one  whom  you  sup- 
pose to  be  bound  to  you  by  common  principles  and  common 
sentiments,  and  pursuing  with  you  a  common  object.  Gentle- 
men, I  am  proud  to  admit  this  community  of  our  principles  and 
this  identity  of  our  object.  You  are  for  the  Constitution  of  the 
Country  ;  so  am  I.  You  are  for  the  Union  of  the  States  ;  so  am 
I.  You  are  for  equal  laws,  for  the  equal  rights  of  all  men,  for 
constitutional  and  just  restraints  on  power,  for  the  substance  and 
not  the  shadowy  image  only  of  popular  institutions,  for  a  Govern- 
ment which  has  liberty  for  its  spirit  and  soul,  as  well  as  in  its 
forms;  and  so  am  I.  You  feel,  that  if  in  warm  party  times  the 
Executive  Power  is  in  hands  distinguished  fur  boldness,  for  great 
success,  for  perseverance,  and  other  qualities  which  strike  men's 


6 


minds  strongly,  there  is  danger  of  derangement  of  the  Powers 
of  Government,  danger  of  a  new  division  of  those  powers,  in 
which  the  Executive  is  likely  to  obtain  the  Lion's  part ;  and  dan- 
ger of  a  state  of  things  in  which  the  more  popular  branches  of 
the  Government,  instead  of  being  guards  and  sentinels  against 
any  encroachments  from  the  Executive,  seek,  rather,  support  from 
its  patronage,  safety  against  the  complaints  of  the  people  in  its 
ample  and  all-protecting  favour,  and  refuge  in  its  power;  and  so 
I  feel,  and  so  I  have  felt,  for  eight  long  and  anxious  years. 

You  believe  that  a  very  efficient  and  powerful  cause,  in  the  pro- 
duction of  the  evils  which  now  fall  on  the  industrious  and  com- 
mercial classes  of  the  community,  is  the  derangement  of  the  cur- 
rency, the  destruction  of  exchanges,  and  the  unnatural  and  un- 
necessary misplacement  of  the  specie  of  the  country,  by  unau- 
thorized and  illegal  Treasury  orders.  So  do  I  believe.  I  pre- 
dicted all  this  from  the  beginning,  and  from  before  the  beginning. 
I  predicted  it  all  last  spring,  when  that  was  attempted  to  be  done 
by  law  which  was  afterward  done  by  executive  authority ;  and 
from  the  moment  of  the  exercise  of  that  executive  authority  to  the 
present  time,  I  have  both  foreseen  and  seen  the  regular  progress 
of  things  under  it,  from  inconvenience  and  embarrassment,  to 
pressure,  loss  of  confidence,  disorder,  and  bankruptcies. 

Gentlemen,  I  mean  on  this  occasion  to  speak  my  sentiments 
freely  on  the  great  topics  of  the  day.  I  have  nothing  to  conceal^ 
and  shall  therefore  conceal  nothing.  In  regard  to  political  senti- 
ments, purposes,  or  objects,  there  is  nothing  in  my  heart  which  I 
am  ashamed  of ;  I  shall  throw  it  all  open,  therefore,  to  you  and  to 
all  men.  [That  is  right,  said  some  one  in  the  crowd — let  us  have 
it — with  no  non-committal..]  Yes,  my  friend  (continued  Mr.  W.% 
without  non-committal  or  evasion*  without  barren  generalities  or 
empty  phrase,  without  if  or  but,  without  a  single  touch,  in  all  I 
say,  bearing  the  oracular  character  of  an  Inaugural,  I  shall  on 
this  occasion  s-peak  my  mind  plainly,  freely,  and  independently, 
to  men  who  are  just  as  free  to  concur  or  not  to  concur  in  my 
sentiments  as  I  am  to  utter  them.  I  think  you  are  entitled  to 
hear  my  opinions  freely  and  frankly  spoken  ;  but  I  freely  acknowl- 
edge that  you  are  still  more  clearly  entitled  to  retain  and  maintain 
your  own  opinions,  however  they  may  differ  or  agree  with  mine. 

It  is  true,  Gentlemen,  that  I  have  contemplated  the  relinquish- 
ment of  my  seat  in  the  Senate  for  the  residue  of  the  term,  now 
two  years,  for  which  I  was  chosen.  This  resolution  was  not 
taken  from  disgust  or  discouragement,  although  some  tilings  have 
certainly  happened  which  might  excite  both  those  feelings.  But 
in  popular  governments,  men  must  not  suffer  themselves  to  be 
permanently  disgusted  by  occasional  exhibitions  of  political 
harlequinism,  or  deeply  discouraged,'  although  their  efforts  to 
awaken  the  people  to  what  they  deem  the  dangerous  tendency  of 
public  measures  be  not  crowned  with  immediate  success.    It  was 


7 


altogether  from  other  causes  and  other  considerations,  that,  after 
an  uninterrupted  service  of  fourteen  or  fifteen  years,  I  naturally 
desired  a  respite.  But  those  whose  opinions  I  am  bound  to  re- 
spect saw  objections  to  a  present  withdrawal  from  Congress  ; 
and  I  have  yielded  my  own  strong  desire  to  their  convictions  of 
what  the  public  good  requires. 

Gentlemen,  in  speaking  here  on  the  subjects  which  now  so 
much  interest  the  community,  I  wish,  in  the  outset,  to  disclaim 
all  personal  disrespect  towards  individuals.  He  whose  character 
and  fortune  have  exercised  such  a  decisive  influence  on  our  poli- 
tics for  eight  years,  has  now  retired  from  public  station.  I  pur- 
sue him  with  no  personal  reflections,  no  reproaches.  Between 
him  and  myself  there  has  always  existed  a  respectful  personal 
intercourse.  Moments  have  existed,  indeed,  critical  and  de- 
cisive upon  the  general  success  of  his  Administration,  in  which 
he  has  been  pleased  to  regard  my  aid  as  not  altogether  unimpor- 
tant. I  now  speak  of  him  respectfully  as  a  distinguished  sol- 
dier, as  one  who,  in  that  character,  has  done  the  Slate  much  ser- 
vice ;  as  a  man,  too,  of  strong  and  decided  character,  of  unsub- 
dued resolution  and  perseverance  in  whatever  he  undertakes. 
In  speaking  of  his  civil  administration,  I  speak  without  censori- 
ousness  or  harsh  imputation  of  motives ;  1  wish  him  health  and 
happiness  in  his  retirement ;  but  I  must  still  speak  as  I  think  of 
his  public  measures,  and  of  their  general  bearing  and  tendency, 
not  only  on  the  present  interests  of  the  country,  but  also  on  the 
well  being  and  security  of  the  Government  itself. 

There  are,  however,  some  topics  of  a  less  urgent  present  ap- 
plication and  importance,  upon  which  I  wish  to  say  a  few  words 
before  I  advert  to  those  which  are  more  immediately  connected 
with  the  present  distressed  state  of  things. 

My  learned  and  highly  valued  friend  (Mr.  Ogden),  who  has 
addressed  me  in  your  behalf,  has  been  kindly  pleased  to  speak  of 
my  political  career  as  being  marked  by  a  freedom  from  local  in- 
terests and  prejudices,  and  a  devotion  to  liberal  and  comprehen- 
si.e  views  of  public  policy. 

I  will  not  say  that  this  compliment  is  deserved.  I  will  only 
say  that  I  have  earnestly  endeavoured  to  deserve  it.  Gentlemen, 
the  General  Government,  to  the  extent  of  its  power,  is  national. 
It  is  not  consolidated,  it  does  not  embrace  all  powers  of  Gov- 
ernment. On  the  contrary,  it  is  delegated,  restrained,  strictly 
limited. 

But  what  powers  it  does  possess,  it  possesses  for  the  general, 
not  for  any  partial  or  local  good.  It  extends  over  a  vast  territory, 
embracing  now  six-and-twenty  States,  with  interests  various,  but 
not  irreconcilable,  infinitely  diversified,  but  capable  of  being 
all  blended  into  political  harmony. 

He,  however,  who  would  produce  this  harmony  must  survey 
the  whole  field,  as  if  all  parts  were  as  interesting  to  himself  as 


8 


they  are  to  others,  and  with  that  generous  patriotic  feeling, 
prompter  and  better  than  the  mere  dictates  of  cool  reason,  which 
leads  him  to  embrace  the  whole  with  affectionate  regard,  as  con- 
stituting, altogether,  that  object  which  he  is  so  much  bound  to 
respect,  to  defend,  and  to  love — his  Country.  We  have  around 
us,  and  more  or  less  within  the  influence  and  protection  of  the 
General  Government,  all  the  great  interests  of  Agriculture,  Nav 
igation,  Commerce,  Manufactures,  the  Fisheries,  and  the  Me 
chanic  Arts.  The  duties  of  the  Government,  then,  certainly  ex- 
tend over  all  this  territory,  and  embrace  all  these  vast  interests. 
We  have  a  maritime  frontier,  a  seacoast  of  many  thousand  miles ; 
and  while  no  one  doubts  that  it  is  the  duty  of  Government  to  de- 
fend this  coast  by  suitable  military  preparations,  there  are  those 
who  yet  suppose  that  the  powers  of  Government  stop  at  this 
point ;  and  that,  as  to  works  of  peace  and  works  of  improvement, 
they  are  beyond  our  constitutional  limits.  I  have  ever  thought 
otherwise.  Congress  has  a  right,  no  doubt,  to  declare  wrar,  and 
to  raise  armies  and  navies  ;  and  it  has  necessarily  the  right  to 
build  fortifications  and  batteries,  to  protect  the  coast  from  the  ef- 
fects of  war.  But  Congress  has  authority  also,  and  it  is  its  duty 
to  regulate  Commerce,  and  it  has  the  whole  power  of  collecting 
duties  on  imports  and  tonnage.  It  must  have  ports  and  harbours, 
^nd  dockyards  also,  for  its  navies.  Very  early  in  the  history  of 
the  Government,  it  was  decided  by  Congress,  on  the  report  of  a 
highly  respectable  committee,  that  the  transfer  by  the  States  to 
Congress  of  the  power  of  collecting  tonnage  and  other  duties, 
and  the  grant  of  the  authority  to  regulate  Commerce,  charged 
Congress,  necessarily,  with  the  duty  of  maintaining  such  piers, 
and  wharves,  and  lighthouses,  and  of  making  such  improvements 
as  might  have  been  expected  to  be  done  by  the  States,  if  they 
had  retained  the  usual  means,  by  retaining  the  power  of  collect- 
ing duties  on  imports.  The  States,  it  was  admitted,  had  parted 
with  this  power;  and  the  duty  of  protecting  and  facilitating  Com- 
merce by  these  means,  had  passed,  along  with  this  power,  into 
other  hands.  I  have  never  hesitated,  therefore,  when  the  state 
of  the  Treasury  would  admit,  to  vote  for  reasonable  appropria- 
tions for  Breakwaters,  Lighthouses,  Piers,  Harbours,  and  sim- 
ilar improvements  on  any  part  of  the  whole  Atlantic  Coast,  or  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico  from  Maine  to  Louisiana. 

But  how  stands  the  inland  frontier?  How  is  it  along  the 
vast  lakes,  and  the  mighty  rivers  of  the  North  and  West  ?  Do 
our  Constitutional  rights  and  duties  terminate  when  the  water 
ceases  to  be  salt?  or  do  they  exist  in  full  vigour  on  the  shores 
of  these  Inland  Seas  ?  I  never  could  doubt  about  this  ;  and  yet, 
Gentlemen,  I  remember  even  to  "have  participated  in  a  warm  de- 
bate in  the  Senate  some  years  ago,  upon  the  Constitutional  right 
of  Congress  to  make  an  appropriation  for  a  Pier  in  the  harbour 
of  Buffalo.    What !  make  a  Harbour  at  Buffalo,  where  nature 


g 


never  made  any,  and  where,  therefore,  it  was  never  intended  any 
ever  should  be  made  ?  Take  money  from  the  people  to  run 
out  piers  from  the  sandy  shores  of  Lake  Eric,  or  deepen  the 
channels  of  her  shallow  rivers  ?  Where  was  the  Constitutional 
uithority  for  this  ?  Where  would  such  strides  of  power  stop? 
How  long  would  the  Stales  have  any  power  at  all  left,  if  their 
territory  might  be  ruthlessly  invaded  for  such  unhallowed  pur- 
poses, or  how  long  would  the  people  have  any  money  in  their 
pockets,  if  the  Government  of  the  United  States  might  tax  them 
at  pleasure  for  such  extravagant  projects  as  these  ?  Piers, 
wharves,  harbours,  and  breakwaters  in  the  lakes !  These  argu- 
ments, Gentlemen,  however  earnestly  put  forth  heretofore,  do  not 
strike  us  with  great  power  at  the  present  day,  if  we  stand  on 
the  shores  of  Lake  Erie,  and  see  hundreds  of  vessels,  with  valu- 
able cargoes,  and  thousands  of  valuable  lives,  moving  on  its 
waters,  with  few  shelters  from  the  storm  but  havens  created  or 
made  useful  by  the  aid  of  Government.  These  great  lakes, 
stretching  awray  many  thousands  of  miles,  not  in  a  straight  line, 
but  with  turns  and  deflexions,  as  if  designed  to  reach,  by  water 
communication,  the  greatest  possible  number  of  important  points, 
through  a  region  of  vast  extent,  cannot  but  arrest  the  attention  of 
any  one  who  looks  upon  the  map.  They  lie  connected,  but  va- 
riously placed  ;  and  interspersed,  as  if  with  studied  variety  of 
form  and  direction,  over  that  part  of  the  country.  They  were 
made  for  man,  and  admirably  adapted  for  his  use  and  convenience. 
Looking,  Gentlemen,  over  our  whole  country,  comprehending  in 
our  survey  the  Atlantic  coast,  with  its  thick  population,  advanced 
agriculture,  its  extended  commerce,  its  manufactures,  and  me- 
chanic arts,  its  varieties  of  communication,  its  wealth,  and  its 
general  improvements  ;  and  looking,  then,  to  the  interior,  to  the 
immense  tracts  of  fresh,  fertile,  and  cheap  lands,  bounded  by  so 
many  lakes,  and  watered  by  so  many  magnificent  rivers,  let  me 
ask  if  such  a  map  was  ever  before  presented  to  the  eye  of  any 
sU  tesman  as  the  theatre  for  the  exercise  of  his  wisdom  and  pat- 
riotism ?  And  let  me  ask,  too,  if  any  man  is  fit  to  act  a  part  on 
such  a  theatre  who  does  not  comprehend  the  whole  of  it  within 
the  scope  of  his  policy,  and  embrace  it  all  as  his  country  ? 

Again,  Gentlemen,  we  are  one  in  respect  to  the  glorious  Con- 
stitution under  which  we  live.  We  are  all  united  in  the  great 
brotherhood  of  American  Liberty.  Descending  from  the  same 
ancestors,  bred  in  the  same  school,  taught,  in  infancy,  to  imbibe 
the  same  general  political  sentiments,  Americans  all,  by  birth, 
education,  and  principle,  what  but  a  narrow  mind,  or  woful  igno- 
rance, or  besotted  selfishness,  or  prejudice  ten  times  ten  times 
blinded,  can  lead  any  of  us  to  regard  the  citizens  of  any  part  of 
the  country  as  strangers  and  aliens  ? 

The  solemn  truth,  moreover,  is  before  us,  that  a  common  po- 
litical fate  attends  us  all. 


10 


Under  the  present  Constitution,  wisely  and  conscientiously  ad- 
ministered, all  are  safe,  happy,  and  renowned.  The  measure  of 
our  country's  fame  may  nil  all  our  breasts.  It  is  fame  enough 
for  us  all  to  partake  in  her  glory,  if  we  will  carry  her  character 
onward  to  its  true  destiny.  But  if  the  system  is  broken,  its  frag- 
ments must  fall  alike  on  all.  Not  only  the  cause  of  American 
Liberty,  but  the  grand  cause  of  Liberty,  throughout  the  whole 
earth,  depends,  in  a  great  measure,  on  upholding  the  Constitution 
and  Union  of  these  States.  If  shattered  and  destroyed,  no  matter 
by  what  cause,  the  peculiar  and  cherished  idea  of  United  Ameri- 
can Liberty  will  be  no  more  for  ever.  There  may  be  free  States, 
it  is  possible,  when  there  shall  be  separate  States.  There  may 
be  many  loose,  and  feeble,  and  hostile  confederacies,  where  there 
is  now  one  great  and  united  confederacy.  But  the  noble  idea  of 
United  American  Liberty,  of  our  Liberty,  such  as  our  fathers 
established  it,  will  be  extinguished  for  ever.  Fragments  and 
severed  columns  of  the  edifice  may  be  found  remaining  ;  and  mel- 
ancholy and  mournful  ruins  will  they  be ;  the  august  temple  it- 
self will  be  prostrate  in  the  dust.  Gentlemen,  the  citizens  of  this 
republic  cannot  sever  their  fortunes.  A  common  fate  awaits  us. 
In  the  honour  of  upholding,  or  in  the  disgrace  of  undermining  the 
Constitution,  we  shall  all  necessarily  partake.  Let  us,  then,  stand 
by  the  Constitution  as  it  is,  and  by  our  country  as  it  is,  one, 
united,  and  entire  ;  let  it  be  a  truth  engraven  on  our  hearts,  let  it 
be  borne  on  the  flag  under  which  we  rally  in  every  exigency, 
that  we  have  one  Country,  one  Constitution,  one  Destiny. 

Gentlemen,  of  our  interior  administration,  the  public  lands  con- 
stitute a  highly  important  part.  This  is  a  subject  of  great  in- 
terest, and  it  ought  to  attract  much  more  attention  than  it  has 
hitherto  received,  especially  from  the  people  of  the  Atlantic  States. 
The  public  lands  are  public  property.  They  belong  to  the  peo- 
ple of  all  the  States.  A  vast  portion  of  them  is  composed  of  ter- 
ritories, which  were  ceded,  by  individual  States,  to  the  United 
States,  after  the  close  of  the  Revolutionary  War,  and  before  the 
adoption  of  the  present  Constitution.  The  history  of  these  ces- 
sions, and  the  reasons  for  making  them,  are  familiar.  Some  of 
the  Old  Thirteen  possessed  large  tracts  of  unsettled  lands  within 
their  chartered  limits.  The  Revolution  had  established  their  title 
to  these  lands  ,  and  as  the  Revolution  had  been  brought  about  by 
the  common  treasure  and  the  common  blood  of  all  the  colonies, 
it  was  thought  not  unreasonable  that  these  unsettled  lands  should 
be  transferred  to  the  United  States,  to  pay  the  debt  created  by 
the  war,  and  afterward  to  remain  as  a  fund  for  the  use  of  all  the 
States.  This  is  the  well-known  origin  of  the  title  possessed  by 
the  United  States  to  lands  northwest  of  the  river  Ohio. 

By  Treaties  with  France  and  Spain,  Louisiana  and  Florida, 
with  many  millions  of  acres  of  public  unsold  land,  have  been 
since  acquired.    The  cost  of  these  acquisitions  was  paid,  of 


11 


course,  by  the  General  Government,  and  was  thus  a  charge  upon 
the  whole  people.  The  public  lands,  therefore,  all  and  singular, 
are  national  property ;  granted  to  the  United  States,  purchased 
by  the  United  States,  paid  for  by  all  the  People  of  the  United 
States. 

The  idea  that  when  a  new  state  is  created,  the  public  lands 
lying  within  her  Territory  become  the  property  of  such  new 
State  in  consequence  of  her  sovereignty,  is  loo  preposterous  for 
serious  refutation.  Such  notions  have  heretofore  been  advanced 
in  Congress,  but  nobody  has  sustained  them.  They  were  re- 
jected and  abandoned,  although  one  cannot  say  whether  they  may 
not  be  revived,  in  consequence  of  recent  propositions  which  have 
been  made  in  the  Senate.  The  new  States  are  admitted  on  ex- 
press conditions,  recognising,  to  the  fullest  extent,  the  right  of 
the  United  States  to  the  public  lands  within  their  borders ;  and 
it  is  no  more  reasonable  to  contend  that  some  indefinite  idea  of 
State  sovereignty  overrides  all  these  stipulations,  and  makes  the 
lands  the  property  of  the  States,  against  the  provisions  and  con- 
ditions of  their  own  Constitution,  and  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  than  it  would  be  that  a  similar  doctrine  entitled  the 
State  of  New-York  to  the  moneys  collected  at  the  Custom  House 
in  this  City  ;  since  it  is  no  more  inconsistent  with  sovereignty 
that  one  Government  should  hold  lands,  for  the  purpose  of  sale, 
within  the  territory  of  another,  than  it  is  that  it  should  lay  and 
collect  t-axes  and  duties  within  such  Territory.  Whatever  ex- 
travagant pretensions  may  have  been  set  up  heretofore,  there 
was  not,  I  suppose,  an  enlightened  man  in  the  whole  West  who 
insisted  on  any  such  right  in  the  States,  when  the  proposition  to 
cede  the  lands  to  the  States  was  made  in  the  late  session  of 
Congress.  The  public  lands  being,  therefore,  the  common  prop- 
erty of  all  the  people  of  all  the  States,  I  shall  never  consent  to 
give  them  away  to  particular  States,  or  to  dispose  of  them  other- 
wise than  for  the  general  good,  and  the  general  use  of  the  whole 
G  untry. 

I  felt  bound,  therefore,  on  the  occasion  just  alluded  to,  to  resist, 
at  the  threshold,  a  proposition  to  cede  the  public  lands  to  the 
States  in  Which  they  lie,  on  certain  conditions. 

I  very  much  regretted  the  introduction  of  such  a  measure,  as 
its  effect  must  be,  I  fear,  only  to  agitate  what  was  well  settled, 
and  to  disturb  that  course  of  proceeding  in  regard  to  the  public 
lands  which  forty  years  of  experience  have  shown  to  be  so  wise 
and  so  satisfactory  in  its  operation,  both  to  the  People  of  the  old 
States  and  to  those  of  the  new. 

But,  Gentlemen,  although  the  public  lands  are  not  to  be  given 
away  or  ceded  to  particular  States,  a  very  liberal  policy  in  regard 
to  them  ought  undoubtedly  to  prevail.  Such  a  policy  has  pre- 
vailed, and  I  have  steadily  supported  it,  and  shall  continue  to  sup- 
port it,  so  long  as  I  may  remain  in  public  life.    The  main  object 


12 


in  regard  to  these  lands  is  undoubtedly  to  settle  them  so  fast  as 
the  growth  of  our  population,  and  its  augmentation  by  emigration, 
may  enable  us  to  settle  them. 

The  lands,  therefore,  should  be  sold  at  a  low  price,  and,  foi 
one,  I  have  never  doubted  the  right  or  expediency  of  granting 
portions  of  the  lands  themselves,  or  of  making  grants  of  money, 
for  objects  of  Internal  improvements  connected  with  them. 

I  have  always  supported  liberal  appropriations  for  the  purpos& 
of  opening  communications  to  and  through  these  lands,  by  com- 
mon Roads,  Canals,  and  Railroads ;  and  where  lands  of  little 
value  have  been  long  in  market,  and  on  account  of  their  indiffer- 
ent quality  are  not  likely  to  command  the  common  price,  I  know 
no  objection  to  a  reduction  of  price,  as  to  such  lands,  so  that  they 
may  pass  into  private  ownership.  Nor  do  I  feel  any  objections 
to  remove  those  restraints  which  prevent  the  States  from  taxing 
the  lands  for  five  years  after  they  are  sold.  But  while  in  these 
and  all  other  respects  I  am  not  only  reconciled  to  a  liberal  policy, 
but  espouse  it  and  support  it,  and  have  constantly  done  so,  I  hold, 
still,  the  national  domain  to  be  the  general  property  of  the  Country, 
confided  to  the  care  of  Congress,  and  which  Congress  is  solemnly 
bound  to  protect  and  preserve  for  the  common  good. 

The  benefit  derived  from  the  public  lands,  after  all,  is  and  must 
be,  in  the  greatest  degree,  enjoyed  by  those  who  buy  them  and 
settle  upon  them.  The  original  price  paid  to  Government  con- 
stitutes but  a  small  part  of  their  actual  value.  Their  immediate 
rise  in  value,  in  the  hands  of  the  settler,  gives  him  competence. 
He  exercises  a  power  of  selection  over  a  vast  region  of' fertile  ter- 
ritory, all  on  sale  at  the  same  price,  and  that  price  an  exceedingly 
low  one.  Selection  is  no  sooner  made,  cultivation  is  no  sooner 
begun,  and  the  first  furrow  turned,  than  he  already  finds  himself  a 
man  of  property.  These  are  the  advantages  of  western  emi- 
grants and  western  settlers ;  and  they  are  such,  certainly,  as  no 
country  on  earth  ever  before  afforded  to  her  Citizens.  This  op- 
portunity of  purchase  and  settlement,  this  certainty  of  enhanced 
value,  these  sure  means  of  immediate  competence  and  ultimate 
wealth,  all  these  are  the  rights  and  the  blessings  of  the  people  of 
the  West,  and  they  have  my  hearty  wishes  for  their  full  and  perfect 
enjoyment. 

I  desire  to  see  the  public  lands  cultivated  and  occupied.  I 
desire  the  growth  and  prosperity  of  the  West,  and  the  fullest  de- 
velopment of  its  vast  and  extraordinary  resources.  I  wish  to 
bring  it  near  to  us,  by  every  species  of  useful  communication.  I 
see,  not  without  admiration  and  amazement,  but  yet  without  envy 
or  jealousy,  states  of  recent  origin  already  containing  more  peo- 
ple than  Massachusetts.  These  people  I  know  to  be  part  of  our- 
selves ;  they  have  proceeded  from  the  midst  of  us,  and  we  may 
trust  that  they  are  not  likely  to  separate  themselves,  in  interest  or 
in  feeling,  from  their  kindred,  whom  they  have  left  on  the  farms 
and  around  the  hearths  of  their  common  fathers. 


13 


A  liberal  policy,  a  sympathy  with  its  interests,  an  enlightened 
and  generous  feeling  of  participation  in  its  prosperity,  are  due  to 
the  West,  and  will  be  met,  I  doubt  not,  by  a  return  of  sentiments 
equally  cordial  and  equally  patriotic. 

Gentlemen,  the  general  question  of  revenue  is  very  much  con* 
nected  with  this  subject  of  the  public  lands,  and  I  will  therefore, 
in  a  very  few  words,  express  my  opinions  on  that  point. 

The  revenue  involves  not  only  the  supply  of  the  Treasury 
with  money,  but  the  question  of  protection  to  manufactures.  On 
these  connected  subjects,  therefore,  Gentlemen,  as  I  have  prom* 
ised  to  keep  nothing  back,  I  will  state  my  opinions  plainly,  but 
very  shortly. 

I  am  in  favour  of  such  a  revenue  as  shall  be  equal  to  all  the  just 
and  reasonable  wants  of  the  government;  and  I  am  decidedly  op- 
posed to  all  collection  or  accumulation  of  revenue  beyond  this 
point.  An  extravagant  government  expenditure  and  unnecessary 
accumulation  in  the  Treasury  are  both,  of  all  things  else,  to  be 
most  studiously  avoided, 

I  am  in  favour  of  protecting  American  industry  and  labour,  not 
only  as  employed  in  large  manufactories,  but  also,  and  more  es- 
pecially, as  employed  in  the  various  mechanic  arts,  carried  on  by 
persons  acting  on  small  capitals,  and  living  by  the  earnings  of  their 
own  personal  industry.  Every  City  in  the  Union,  and  none  more 
than  this,  would  feel  severely  the  consequences  of  departing  from 
the  ancient  and  continued  policy  of  the  Government  respecting 
this  last  branch  of  protection.  If  duties  were  to  be  abolished  on 
hats,  boots,  shoes,  and  other  articles  of  leather,  and  on  the  arti- 
cles fabricated  of  brass,  tin,  and  iron,  and  on  ready-made  clothes, 
carriages,  furniture,  and  many  similar  articles,  thousands  of  per- 
sons would  be  immediately  thrown  out  of  employment  in  this 
City  and  in  other  parts  of  the  Union.  Protection  in  this  respect, 
of  our  own  labour,  against  the  cheaper,  ill  paid,  half  fed,  and  pau- 
per labour  of  Europe,  is,  in  my  opinion,  a  duty  which  the  Coun- 
try owes  to  its  own  citizens.  I  am,  therefore,  decidedly  for  pro- 
tecting our  own  industry  and  our  own  labour. 

In  the  next  place,  Gentlemen,  I  am  of  opinion,  that  with  no 
more  than  usual  skill  in  the  application  of  the  well-tried  piinciplcs 
of  discriminating  and  specific  duties,  all  the  branches  of  National 
Industry  may  be  protected  without  imposing  such  duties  on  im- 
ports as  shall  overcharge  the  Treasury, 

And  as  to  the  Revenues  arising  from  the  sales  of  the  public 
lands,  I  am  of  opinion  that  they  ought  to  be  set  apart  for  the  use 
of  the  States.  The  States  need  the  money.  The  Government 
of  the  United  States  does  not  need  it.  Many  of  the  States  have 
contracted  large  debts  for  objects  of  Internal  improvement  ;  and 
others  of  them  have  important  objects  which  they  would  wish  to 
accomplish.  The  lands  were  originally  granted  for  the  use  of  the 
several  states  ;  and  now  that  their  proceeds  arc  not  necessary  for 


14 


the  purposes  of  the  General  Government,  I  am  of  opinien  that 
they  should  go  to  the  states,  and  to  the  people  of  the  states,  upon 
an  equal  principle.  Set  apart,  then,  the  proceeds  of  the  public 
lands  for  the  use  of  the  states  ;  supply  the  Treasury  from  duties 
on  imports  ;  apply  to  these  duties  a  just  and  careful  discrimination 
in  favour  of  articles  produced  at  home  by  our  own  labour,  and 
thus  support,  to  a  fair  extent,  our  own  Manufactures.  These, 
Gentlemen,  appear  to  me  to  be  the  general  outlines  of  that  policy 
which  the  present  condition  of  the  country  requires  us  to  adopt. 

Gentlemen,  proposing  to  express  opinions  on  the  principal  sub- 
jects of  interest  at  the  present  moment,  it  is  impossible  to  over 
look  the  delicate  question  which  has  arisen  from  events  which 
have  happened  in  the  late  Mexican  Province  of  Texas.  The  In- 
dependence of  that  Province  has  now  been  recognised  by  the 
Government  of  the  United  States.  The  Congress  gave  the 
President  the  means,  to  be  used  when  he  saw  fit,  of  opening  a 
diplomatic  intercourse  with  its  Government,  and  the  late  Presi- 
dent immediately  made  use  of  those  means. 

I  saw  no  objection,  under  the  circumstances,  to  voting  an 
appropriation  to  be  used  when  the  President  should  think  the 
proper  time  had  come  ;  and  he  deemed,  certainly  very  promptly, 
that  the  time  had  already  arrived.  Certainly,  Gentlemen,  the 
history  of  Texas  is  not  a  little  wonderful.  A  very  few  people, 
in  a  very  short  time,  have  established  a  Government  for  them- 
selves against  the  authority  of  the  parent  State  ;  and  which  Gov- 
ernment, it  is  generally  supposed,  there  is  little  probability  at  the 
present  moment  of  the  parent  State  being  able  to  overturn. 

This  Government  is,  in  form,  a  copy  of  our  own.  It  is  an 
American  Constitution,  substantially  after  the  great  American 
model.  We  all,  therefore,  must  wish  it  success  ;  and  there  is 
no  one  who  will  more  heartily  rejoice  than  I  shall,  to  see  an  in- 
dependent community,  intelligent,  industrious,  and  friendly  to- 
wards us,  springing  up,  and  rising  into  happiness,  distinction,  and 
power,  upon  our  own  principles  of  Liberty  and  Government. 

But  it  cannot  be  disguised,  Gentlemen,  that  a  desire,  or  an  in- 
tention, is  already  manifested  to  annex  Texas  to  the  United  States. 
On  a  subject  of  such  mighty  magnitude  as  this,  and  at  a  moment 
when  the  public  attention  is  drawn  to  it,  I  should  feel  myself 
wanting  in  candour  if  I  did  not  express  my  opinion  ;  since  all 
must  suppose  that  on  such  a  question  it  is  impossible  I  should 
be  without  some  opinion. 

I  say  then,  Gentlemen,  in  all  frankness,  that  I  see  objections,  I 
think  insurmountable  objections,  to  the  annexation  of  Texas  to 
the  United  States.  When  the, Constitution  was  formed,  it  is  not 
probable  that  either  its  framers  or  the  people  ever  looked  to  the 
admission  of  any  States  into  the  Union,  except  such  as  then  already 
existed,  and  such  as  should  be  formed  out  of  territories  then  al 
•  eady  belonging  to  the  United  States.    Fifteen  years  after  the 


15 


adoption  of  the  Constitution,  however,  the  case  of  Louisiana  arose. 
Louisiana  was  obtained  by  treaty  with  France,  who  had  recently 
obtained  it  from  Spain  ;  but  the  object  of  this  acquisition,  cer- 
tainly, was  not  mere  extension  of  territory.  Other  great  political 
interests  were  connected  with  it.  Spain,  while  she  possessed 
Louisiana,  had  held  the  mouths  of  the  great  rivers  which  rise  in 
the  Western  States,  and  flow  into  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  She 
had  disputed  our  use  of  these  rivers  already  ;  and  with  a  powerful 
nation  in  possession  of  these  outlets  to  the  sea,  it  is  obvious  that 
the  commerce  of  all  the  West  was  in  danger  of  perpetual  vexa- 
tion. The  command  of  these  rivers  to  the  sea  was,  therefore, 
the  great  object  aimed  at  in  the  acquisition  of  Louisiana.  But 
that  acquisition  necessarily  brought  territory  along  with  it,  and 
three  States  now  exist  formed  out  of  that  ancient  province. 

A  similar  policy,  and  a  similar  necessity,  though  perhaps  not 
entirely  so  urgent,  led  to  the  acquisition  of  Florida. 

Nowr,  no  such  necessity,  no  such  policy,  requires  the  annexa- 
tion of  Texas.  The  accession  of  Texas  to  our  territory  is  not 
necessary  to  the  full  and  complete  enjoyment  of  all  w  hich  we  al- 
ready possess.  Her  case,  therefore,  stands  entirely  different  from 
that  of  Louisiana  and  Florida.  There  being,  then,  no  necessity  for 
extending  the  limits  of  the  Union  in  that  direction,  we  ought,  I 
think,  for  numerous  and  powerful  reasons,  to  be  content  with  our 
present  boundaries. 

Gentlemen,  we  all  see  that  by  whomsoever  possessed,  Texas 
is  likely  to  be  a  slave-holding  country  ;  and  I  frankly  avow  my 
entire  unwillingness  to  do  any  thing  which  shall  extend  the  slavery 
of  the  African  race  on  this  Continent,  or  add  other  slave-holding 
States  to  the  L^nion.  When  I  say  that  I  regard  slavery  in  itself 
as  a  great  moral,  social,  and  political  evil,  I  only  use  language 
'which  has  been  adopted  by  distinguished  men,  themselves  citizens 
of  slave-holding  States.  I  shall  do  nothing,  therefore,  to  favour 
or  encourage  its  further  extension.  We  have  slavery  already 
among  us.  The  Constitution  found  it  among  us ;  it  recognised 
it,  and  gave  it  solemn  guaranties.  To  the  full  extent  of  these 
guaranties  we  are  all  bound,  in  honour,  in  justice,  and  by  the 
Constitution.  All  the  stipulations  contained  in  the  Constitution 
in  favour  of  the  slave-holding  States  which  are  already  in  the 
Union,  ought  to  be  fulfilled,  and,  so  far  as  depends  on  me,  shall 
be  fulfilled,  in  the  fulness  of  their  spirit,  and  to  the  exactness 
of  their  letter.  Slavery,  as  it  exists  in  the  States,  is  beyond  the 
reach  of  Congress.  It  is  a  concern  of  the  States  themselves ; 
they  have  never  submitted  it  to  Congress,  and  Congress  has  no 
rightful  power  over  it.  I  shall  concur,  therefore,  in  no  act,  no 
measure,  no  menace,  no  indication  of  purpose,  which  shall  inter- 
fere, or  threaten  to  interfere,  with  the  exclusive  authority  of  the 
several  States  over  the  subject  of  Slavery,  as  it  exists  within 
their  respective  limits.  All  this  appears  to  me  to  be  matter  of 
plain  and  imperative  duty. 


16 


But  when  we  come  to  speak  of  admitting  new  States,  the  sub- 
ject assumes  an  entirely  different  aspect.  Our  rights  and  our 
duties  are  then  both  different. 

The  free  States,  and  all  the  States,  are  then  at  liberty  to  ac- 
cept or  to  reject.  When  it  is  proposed  to  bring  new  members 
into  this  political  partnership,  the  old  members  have  a  right  to  say 
on  what  terms  such  new  partners  are  to  come  in,  and  what  they 
are  to  bring  along  with  them.  In  my  opinion,  the  people  of  the 
United  States  will  not  consent  to  bring  a  new,  vastly  extensive, 
and  slave-holding  country,  large  enough  for  half  a  dozen  or  a  dozen 
States,  into  the  Union.  In  my  opinion,  they  ought  not  to  consent 
to  it.  Indeed,  I  am  altogether  at  a  loss  to  conceive  what  possible 
benefit  any  part  of  this  country  can  expect  to  derive  from  such 
annexation.  All  benefit  to  any  part  is  at  least  doubtful  and  un- 
certain ;  the  objections  obvious,  plain,  and  strong.  On  the  gen- 
eral question  of  Slavery,  a  great  portion  of  the  community  is  al- 
ready strongly  excited.  The  subject  has  not  only  attracted  atten- 
tion as  a  question  of  politics,  but  it  has  struck  a  far  deeper-toned 
chord.  It  has  arrested  the  religious  feeling  of  the  country  ;  it  has 
taken  strong  hold  on  the  consciences  of  men.  He  is  a  rash  man, 
indeed,  and  little  conversant  with  human  nature,  and  especially 
has  he  a  very  erroneous  estimate  of  the  character  of  the  people 
of  this  country,  who  supposes  that  a  feeling  of  this  kind  is  to  be 
trifled  with  or  despised.  It  will  assuredly  cause  itself  to  be  re- 
spected. It  may  be  reasoned  with,  it  may  be  made  willing,  I  be- 
lieve it  is  entirely  willing,  to  fulfil  all  existing  engagements,  and 
all  existing  duties,  to  uphold  and  defend  the  Constitution,  as  it  is 
established,  with  whatever  regrets  about  some  provisions  which 
it  does  actually  contain.  But  to  coerce  it  into  silence — to  en- 
deavour to  restrain  its  free  expression,  to  seek  to  compress  and 
confine  it,  warm  as  it  is,  and  more  heated  as  sueh  endeavours 
would  inevitably  render  it — should  all  this  be  attempted,  I  know 
nothing,  even  in  the  Constitution,  or  in  the  Union  itself,  which 
would  not  be  endangered  by  the  explosion  which  might  follow. 

I  see,  therefore,  no  political  necessity  for  the  annexation  of 
Texas  to  the  Union ;  no  advantages  to  be  derived  from  it ;  and 
objections  to  it  of  a  strong,  and,  in  my  judgment,  decisive  charac- 
ter. 

I  believe  it  to  be  for  the  interest  and  happiness  of  the  whole 
Union  to  remain  as  it  is,  without  diminution  and  without  addition. 

Gentlemen,  I  pass  to  other  subjects.    The  rapid  advancement  . 
of  the  Executive  authority  is  a  topic  which  has  already  been  al- 
luded to. 

I  believe  there  is  serious  cause  of  danger  from  this  source. 
I  believe  the  Power  of  the  Executive  has  increased,  is  increas- 
ing, and  ought  now  to  be  brought  back  within  its  ancient  Consti- 
tutional limits.  I  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  motives  which 
have  led  to  those  acts  which  I  believe  to  have  transcended  the 


17 


boundaries  of  the  Constitution.  Good  motives  may  always  be 
assumed,  as  bad  motives  may  always  be  imputed.  Good  inten- 
tions will  always  be  pleaded  for  every  assumption  of  power;  but 
they  cannot  justify  it,  even  if  we  were  sure  that  they  existed.  It 
is  hardly  too  strong  to  say  that  the  Constitution  was  made  to 
fliiard  the  people  against  the  dangers  of  good  intention,  real  or 
pretended.  When  bad  intentions  are  boldly  avowed,  the  People 
will  promptly  take  care  of  themselves.  On  the  other  hand,  they 
will  always  be  asked  why  they  should  resist  or  question  that 
exercise  of  power  which  is  so  fair  in  its  object,  so  plausible  and 
patriotic  in  appearance,  and  which  has  the  public  good  alone 
confessedly  in  view  ?  Human  beings,  we  may  be  assured,  will 
generally  exercise  power  when  they  can  get  it ;  and  they  will 
exercise  it  most  undoubtedly  in  popular  Governments,  under 
pretences  of  public  safety  or  high  public  interest.  It  may  be 
very  possible  that  good  intentions  do  really  sometimes  exist, 
when  Constitutional  restraints  are  disregarded.  There  are  men 
in  all  ages  who  mean  to  exercise  power  usefully  ;  but  who  mean 
to  exercise  it.  They  mean  to  govern  well  ;  but  they  mean  to 
govern.  They  promise  to  be  kind  masters  ;  but  they  mean  to  be 
masters.  They  think  there  need  be  but  little  restraint  upon 
themselves.  Their  notion  of  the  public  interest  is  apt  to  be 
quite  closely  connected  with  their  own  exercise  of  authoritv. 
They  may  not,  indeed,  always  understand  their  own  motives. 
The  love  of  power  may  sink  too  deep  in  their  hearts  even  for 
their  own  scrutiny,  and  may  pass  with  themselves  for  mere  pat- 
riotism and  benevolence. 

A  character  has  been  drawn  of  a  very  eminent  citizen  of  Mas- 
sachusetts of  the  last  age,  which,  though  I  think  it  does  not  en- 
tirely belong  to  him,  yet  very  well  describes  a  certain  class  of 
public  men.  It  was  said  of  this  distinguished  son  of  Massachu- 
setts, that  in  matters  of  politics  and  government  he  cherished 
the  most  kind  and  benevolent  feelings  towards  the  whole  Earth. 
He  earnestly  desired  to  see  all  nations  well  governed  ;  and,  to 
bring  about  this  happy  result,  he  wished  that  the  United  States 
might  govern  the  rest  of  the  world  ;  that  Massachusetts  might 
govern  the  United  States  ;  that  Boston  might  govern  Massachu- 
setts ;  and  as  for  himself,  his  own  humble  ambition  would  be  sat- 
isfied by  governing  the  little  town  of  Boston. 

I  do  not  intend,  Gentlemen,  to  commit  so  unreasonable  a  tres- 
pass on  your  patience  as  to  discuss  all  those  cases  in  which  I 
think  Executive  power  has  been  unreasonably  extended.  1  shall 
only  allude  to  some  of  them,  and,  as  being  earliest  in  the  order  of 
time,  and  hardly  second  to  any  other  in  importance,  I  mention 
the  practice  of  removal  from  all  offices,  high  and  low,  for  opin- 
ion's sake,  and  on  the  avowed  ground  of  giving  patronarje  to  the 
President ;  that  is  to  say,  of  giving  him  the  power  of  influencing 
men's  political  opinions  and  political  conduct  by  hopes  and  by 


18 


fears  addressed  directly  to  their  pecuniary  interests.  The  great 
battle  on  this  point  was  fought  and  was  lost  in  the  Senate  of 
the  United  States,  in  the  last  session  of  Congress  under  Mr. 
Adams's  administration.  After  General  Jackson  was  known  to 
be  elected,  and  before  his  term  of  office  began,  many  important 
offices  became  vacant  by  the  usual  causes  of  death  and  resigna- 
tion. Mr.  Adams,  of  course,  nominated  persons  to  fill  these 
vacant  offices,  But  a  majority  of  the  Senate  was  composed  of 
the  friends  of  General  Jackson  ;  and  instead  of  acting  on  these 
nominations,  and  filling  the  vacant  offices  with  ordinary  prompt- 
itude, the  nominations  were  postponed  to  a  day  beyond  the 
fourth  of  March,  for  the  purpose,  openly  avowed,  of  giving  the 
patronage  of  the  appointments  to  the  President  who  was  then 
coming  into  office.  And  when  the  new  President  entered  on  his 
office,  he  withdrew  these  nominations,  and  sent  in  nominations  of 
his  own  friends  in  their  places.  I  was  of  opinion  then,  and  am  of 
opinion  now,  that  that  decision  of  the  Senate  went  far  to  unfix  the 
proper  balance  of  the  Government.  It  conferred  on  the  President 
the  power  of  rewards  for  party  purposes  or  personal  purposes 
without  limit  or  control.  It  sanctioned,  manifestly  and  plainly, 
that  exercise  of  power  which  Mr.  Madison  had  said  would  de- 
serve impeachment ;  and  it  completely  defeated  one  great  objecty 
which  we  are  told  the  framers  of  the  Constitution  contemplated, 
in  the  manner  of  forming  the  Senate  ;  that  is,  that  the  Senate 
might  be  a  body,  not  changing  with  the  election  of  a  President, 
and  therefore  likely  to  be  able  to  hold  over  him  some  check  or 
restraint,  in  regard  to  bringing  his  own  friends  and  partisans  into 
power  with  him,  and  thus  rewarding  their  services  to  him  at  the 
public  expense. 

The  debates  in  the  Senate  on  these  questions  wrere  long-con- 
tinued and  earnest.  They  were,  of  course,  in  secret  session  ;  but 
the  opinions  of  those  members  wTho  opposed  this  course  have 
all  been  proved  true  by  the  result.  The  contest  was  severe  and 
ardent,  as  much  so  as  any  that  1  have  ever  partaken  in  ;  and  I 
have  seen  some  service  in  that  sort  of  warfare. 

Gentlemen,  when  I  look  back  to  that  eventful  moment,  when 
I  remember  who  those  were  who  upheld  this  claim  for  Execu- 
tive power  with  so  much  zeal  and  devotion,  as  well  as  With  such 
great  and  splendid  abilities  ;  and  when  I  look  round  now,  and  in- 
quire what  has  become  of  these  gentlemen,  where  they  have  found 
themselves  at  last,  under  the  power  which  they  thus  helped  to 
establish  ;  what  has  become  now  of  all  their  respect,  trust,  con- 
fidence, and  attachment ;  how  many  of  them,  indeed,  have  not 
escaped  from  being  broken  and  crushed  under  the  weight  of  the 
wheels  of  that  engine  which  they  themselves  set  in  motion,  I  feel 
that  an  edifying  lesson  may  be  read'  by  those  who,  in  the  fresh- 
ness and  fulness  of  party  zeal,  are  ready  to  confer  the  most  dan- 
gerous power,  in  the  hope  that  they  and  their  friends  may  bask 


19 


in  its  sunshine,  \vhile  enemies  only  shall  be  withered  by  its 
frown. 

I  will  not  go  into  the  mention  of  names.  I  will  give  no  enu- 
meration of  persons ;  but  I  ask  you  to  turn  your  minds  back  and 
recollect  who  the  distinguished  men  were  who  supported  in  the 
Senate  General  Jackson's  administration  for  the  two  first  years ; 
and  I  will  ask  you  what  you  suppose  they  think  now  of  that 
power  and  that  discretion  which  they  so  freely  confided  to  Ex- 
ecutive hands  ?  What  do  they  think  of  the  whole  career  of  that 
administration,  the  commencement  of  which,  and  indeed  the  exist- 
ence of  which,  owed  so  much  to  their  own  great  exertions  ? 

In  addition  to  the  establishment  of  this  power  of  unlimited  and 
causeless  removal,  another  doctrine  has  been  put  forth,  more 
vague,  it  is  true,  but  altogether  unconstitutional,  and  tending  to 
like  dangerous  results.  In  some  loose,  indefinite,  and  unknown 
sense,  the  President  has  been  called  the  Representative  of  the 
whole  American  People.  He  has  called  himself  so  repeatedly ; 
and  been  so  denominated  by  his  friends  a  thousand  times.  Acts 
for  which  no  specific  authority  has  been  found,  cither  in  the  Con- 
stitution or  the  laws,  have  been  justified  on  the  ground  that  the 
President  is  the  Representative  of  the  whole  American  People. 
Certainly  this  is  not  Constitutional  language.  Certainly  the 
Constitution  nowhere  calls  the  President  the  Universal  Repre- 
sentative of  the  People.  The  Constitutional  Representatives  of 
the  People  are  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  exercising  pow- 
ers of  legislation.  The  President  is  an  executive  officer,  ap- 
pointed in  a  particular  manner,  and  clothed  with  prescribed  and 
limited  powers.  It  may  be  thought  to  be  of  no  great  consequence, 
that  the  President  should  call  himself,  or  that  others  should  call 
him,  the  sole  Representative  of  all  the  People,  although  he  has  no 
such  appellation  or  character  in  the  Constitution.  But,  in  these 
matters,  words  are  things.  If  he  is  the  People's  Representative, 
and  as  such  may  exercise  power  without  any  other  grant,  what  is 
the  limit  of  that  power  ?  And  what  may  not  an  unlimited  Rep- 
re  s(  ntative  of  the  People  do  ? 

When  the  Constitution  expressly  creates  Representatives  as 
members  of  Congress,  it  regulates,  defines,  and  limits  their  au- 
thority. 

But  if  the  Executive  Chief  Magistrate,  merely  because  he  is 
the  Executive  Chief  Magistrate,  may  assume  to  himself  another 
character,  and  call  himself  the  Representative  of  the  whole  Peo- 
ple, what  is  to  limit  or  restrain  this  Representative  power  in  his 
hands  ? 

I  fear,  Gentlemen,  that  if  these  pretensions  should  be  contin- 
ued and  justified,  we  might  have  many  instances  of  summary  po- 
litical logic,  such  as  I  once  heard  in  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives. A  gentleman,  not  now  living,  wished  very  much  to  vote 
for  the  establishment  of  a  Bank  of  the  United  States.    But  ho 


20 


had  always  stoutly  denied  the  Constitutional  power  of  Congress 
to  create  such  a  Bank.  The  country,  however,  was  in  a  state  of 
great  financial  distress,  from  which  such  an  Institution,  it  was 
hoped,  might  help  to  extricate  it ;  and  this  consideration  led  the 
worthy  member  to  review  his  opinions  with  care  and  delibera- 
tion. Happily,  on  such  careful  and  deliberate  review,  he  altered 
his  former  judgment.  He  came  satisfactorily  to  the  conclusion 
that  Congress  might  incorporate  a  Bank.  The  argument  which 
brought  his  mind  to  this  result  was  short,  and  so  plain  and  obvi- 
ous, that  he  wondered  how  he  should  so  long  have  overlooked  it. 
The  power,  he  said,  to  create  a  Bank  was  either  given  to  Con- 
gress or  it  was  not  given.  Very  well.  If  it  was  given,  Congress 
of  course  could  exercise  it ;  if  it  was  not  given,  the  People  still 
retained  it,  and,  in  that  case,  Congress,  as  the  Representatives  of 
the  People,  might,  upon  an  emergency,  make  free  to  use  it. 

Arguments  and  conclusions,  in  substance  like  these,  Gentle- 
men, will  not  be  wanting,  if  men  of  great  popularity,  commanding 
characters  sustained  by  powerful  parties,  and  full  of  good  inten- 
tions towards  the  public,  may  be  permitted  to  call  themselves  the 
Universal  Representatives  of  the  People. 

But,  Gentlemen,  it  is  the  currency,  the  currency  of  the  Coun- 
try— it  is  this  great  subject,  so  interesting,  so  vital  to  all  classes 
of  the  community,  which  has  been  destined  to  feel  the  most  vio- 
lent assaults  of  Executive  Power.  The  consequences  are  around 
us  and  upon  us.  Not  unforeseen,  not  unforetold,  here  they  come, 
bringing  distress  for  the  present,  and  fear  and  alarm  for  the  future. 
If  it  be  denied  that  the  present  condition  of  things  has  arisen 
from  the  President's  interference  with  the  Revenue,  the  first  an- 
swer is,  that  when  he  did  interfere,  just  such  consequences  were 
predicted.  It  was  then  said,  and  repeated,  and  pressed  upon  the 
public  attention,  that  that  interference  must  necessarily  produce 
derangement,  embarrassment,  loss  of  confidence,  and  commercial 
distress.  I  pray  you,  Gentlemen,  to  recur  to  the  debates  of  1832, 
1833,  and  1834,  and  then  to  decide  whose  opinions  have  proved 
to  be  correct.  When  the  Treasury  Experiment  was  first  an- 
nounced, who  supported  and  who  opposed  it  ?  Who  warned  the 
Country  against  it  ?  Who  were  they  who  endeavoured  to  stay 
the  violence  of  party,  to  arrest  the  hand  of  Executive  authority, 
and  to  convince  the  People  that  this  Experiment  was  delusive ; 
that  its  object  was  merely  to  increase  Executive  Power,  and  that 
its  effect,  sooner  or  later,  must  be  injurious  and  ruinous  ? 

Gentlemen,  it  is  fair  to  bring  the  opinions  of  political  men  to  the 
test  of  experience.    It  is  just  to  judge  of  them  by  their  measures 
and  their  opposition  to  measures ;  and  for  myself,  and  those  po- 
litical friends  with  whom  I  have  acted  on  this  subject  of  the  cur 
rency,  I  am  ready  to  abide  the  test.  > 

But,  before  the  subject  of  the  currency,  and  its  present  most 
embarrassing  state  is  discussed,  I  invite  your  attention,  Gentle- 


21 


men,  to  the  history  of  Executive  proceedings  connected  witli  it. 
I  propose  to  state  to  you  a  series  of  facts  ;  not  to  argue  upon  them, 
not  to  mystify  them,  not  to  draw  any  unjust  inference  from  them; 
but  merely  to  state  the  case  in  the  plainest  mariner  as  I  under 
stand  it.  And  I  wish,  Gentlemen,  that  in  order  to  be  able  to  d* 
this  in  the  best  and  most  convincing  manner,  I  had  the  ability  ot 
my  learned  friend  (Mr.  Ogden),  whom  you  have  all  so  ofteij 
heard,  and  who  state-s  his  case,  usually,  in  such  a  manner  that, 
when  stated,  it  is  already  very  well  argued. 

Let  us  see,  Gentlemen,  what  the  train  of  occurrences  has  been 
in  regard  to  our  revenue  and  finances  ;  and  when  these  occur- 
rences are  stated,  I  leave  to  every  man  the  right  to  decide  for  him- 
self whether  our  present  difficulties  have  or  have  not  arisen 
from  attempts  to  extend  the  Executive  authority.  In  giving  this 
detail,  I  shall  be  compelled  to  speak  of  the  late  Bank  of  the 
United  States,  but  I  shall  speak  of  it  historically  only.  My 
opinion  of  its  utility,  and  of  the  extraordinary  ability  and  success 
with  which  its  affairs  were  conducted  for  many  years  before  the 
termination  of  its  charter,  is  well  known.  I  have  often  expressed 
it,  and  I  have  not  altered  it.  But  at  present  I  speak  of  the  Bank 
only  as  it  makes  a  necessary  part  in  the  history  of  events  which  I 
wish  now  to  recapitulate. 

Mr.  Adams  commenced  his  administration  in  March,  1625. 
He  had  been  elected  by  the  House  of  Representatives,  and  began 
his  career  as  President  under  a  strong  and  powerful  opposition. 
From  the  very  first  day,  he  was  warmly,  even  violently  opposed 
in  all  his  measures  ;  and  this  opposition,  as  we  all  know,  continued 
without  abatement,  either  in  force  or  asperity,  through  his  whole 
term  of  four  years.  Gentlemen,  I  am  not  about  to  say  whether 
this  opposition  was  wrell  or  ill  founded,  just  or  unjust.  I  only 
state  the  fact  as  connected  with  other  facts.  The  Bank  of  the 
United  States  during  these  four  years  of  Mr.  Adams's  administra- 
tion was  in  full  operation.  It  was  performing  the  fiscal  duties 
enjoined  on  it  by  its  charter  ;  it  had  established  numerous  offices 
— was  maintaining  a  large  circulation,  and  transacting  a  vast  busi- 
ness in  Exchange.  Its  character,  conduct,  and  manner  of  admin- 
istration were  all  well  known  to  the  whole  country. 

Now  there  are  two  or  three  things  worthy  of  especial  notice. 
One  is,  that  during  the  whole  of  this  heated  political  controversy, 
from  1825  to  1829,  the  Party  which  was  endeavouring  to  produce 
a  change  of  administration  brought  no  charge  of  political  inter- 
ference against  the  Bank  of  the  United  States.  If  anything,  it 
was  rather  a  favourite  with  the  party  generally.  Certainly,  the 
party,  as  a  party,  did  not  ascribe  to  it  undue  attachment  to  other 
parties,  or  to  the  then  existing  administration. 

Another  important  fact  is,  that  during  the  whole  of  the  same 
period,  those  who  had  espoused  the  cause  of  Gen.  Jackson,  and 
who  sought  to  bring  about  a  revolution  under  his  name,  did  not 


22 


propose  the  destruction  of  the  Bank  or  its  discontinuance  as  one 
of  the  objects  which  were  to  be  accomplished  by  the  intended 
revolution.  They  did  not  tell  the  country  that  the  Bank  was  un- 
constitutional ;  they  did  not  declare  it  unnecessary ;  they  did  not 
propose  to  get  along  without  it  when  they  should  come  into 
power  themselves.  If  individuals  entertained  any  such  purposes, 
they  kept  them  much  to  themselves.  The  part}-,  as  a  party, 
avowed  none  such.  A  third  fact,  worthy  of  all  notice,  is,  that 
during  this  period  there  was  no  complaint  about  the  state  of  the 
currency,  either  by  the  Country  generally,  or  by  the  party  then 
in  opposition. 

In  March,  1829,  Gen.  Jackson  was  inaugurated.  He  came  in 
on  professions  of  Reform.  He  announced  reform  of  all  abuses 
to  be  the  great  and  leading  object  of  his  future  administration  ;  and 
m  his  inaugural  address  he  pointed  out  the  main  subjects  of  this 
reform.  But  the  Bank  was  not  one  of  them.  It  was  not  said 
the  Bank  was  unconstitutional.  It  was  not  said  it  was  unneces- 
sary or  useless.  It  was  not  said  that  it  had  failed  to  do  all  that 
had  been  hoped  or  expected  from  it  in  regard  to  the  currency. 

In  March,  1S29,  then,  the  Bank  stood  well,  very  well,  with  the 
newT  administration.  It  was  regarded,  so  far  as  appears,  as  entirely 
constitutional,  free  from  political  or  party  taint,  and  highly  useful. 
It  had,  as  yet,  found  no  place  in  the  catalogue  of  abuses  to  be  re- 
formed. 

But,  Gentlemen,  nine  months  wrought  a  wonderful  change. 
New  lights  broke  forth  before  these  months  had  rolled  away ; 
and  the  President,  in  his  message  to  Congress,  in  Dec,  1&29,  held 
very  different  language,  and  manifested  very  different  purposes. 

Although  the  Bank  had  then  five  or  six  years  of  its  charter  un- 
expired, he  yet  called  the  attention  of  Congress  very  pointedly 
to  the  subject,  and  declared  : — 

1 .  That  the  constitutionality  of  the  Bank  w^as  well  doubted  by 
many  ; 

2.  That  its  utility  or  expediency  was  also  well  doubted; 

3.  That  all  must  admit  that  it  had  failed  in  undertaking  to  es- 
tablish or  maintain  a  sound  and  uniform  currency  ;  and, 

4.  That  the  true  Bank  for  the  use  of  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  would  be  a  Bank  which  should  be  founded  on  the 
revenues  and  credit  of  the  Government  itself. 

These  propositions  appeared  to  me,  at  the  time,  as  very  extra- 
ordinary, and  the  last  one  as  very  startling.  A  Bank,  founded  on 
the  revenue  and  credit  of  the  Government,  and  managed  and  ad- 
ministered by  the  Executive,  was  a  conception  which  I  had  sup- 
posed no  man,  holding  the  Chief  Executive  Power  in  his  own 
hands,  would  venture  to  put  forth. 

But  the  question  now  is,  what  had  wrought  this  great  change 
of  feeling  and  of  purpose  in  regard  to  the  Bank  ?  What  events 
had  occurred,  between  March  and  December,  that  should  have 


23 


caused  the  Bank,  so  constitutional,  so  useful,  so  peaceable,  and 
so  safe  an  institution  in  the  first  of  these  months,  to  start  up  into 
the  character  of  a  monster,  and  become  so  horrid  and  dangerous 
in  the  last  ? 

Gentlemen,  let  us  see  what  the  events  were  which  had  inter 
vcned. 

Gen.  Jackson  was  elected  in  December,  1828.  His  term  was 
to  begin  in  March,  1829.  A  session  of  Congress  took  place, 
therefore,  between  his  election  and  the  commencement  of  his  ad- 
ministration. 

Now,  Gentlemen,  the  truth  is,  that  during  this  session,  and  a 
little  before  the  commencement  of  the  new  administration,  a  dis- 
position was  manifested  by  political  men  to  interfere  with  the 
management  of  the  Bank,  Members  of  Congress  undertook  to 
nominate  or  recommend  individuals  as  Directors  in  the  Branches 
or  offices  of  the  Bank.  They  were  kind  enough,  sometimes,  to 
make  out  whole  lists,  or  tickets,  and  to  send  them  to  Philadelphia, 
containing  the  names  of  those  whose  appointments  would  be  sat- 
isfactory to  Gen.  Jackson's  friends.  Portions  of  the  correspond- 
ence on  these  subjects  have  been  published  in  some  of  the  volu- 
minous reports  and  other  documents  connected  with  the  Bank, 
but  perhaps  have  not  been  generally  heeded  or  noticed.  At  first, 
the  Bank  merely  declined,  as  gently  as  possible,  complying  with 
these  and  similar  requests.  But  like  applications  began  to  show 
themselves  from  many  quarters,  and  a  very  marked  case  arose  as 
early  as  June,  1829.  Certain  members  of  the  Legislature  of 
New-Hampshire  applied  for  a  change  in  the  Presidency  of  the 
Branch  which  was  established  in  that  State.  A  member  of  the 
Senate  of  the  United  States  wrote,  both  to  the  President  of  tht> 
Bank  and  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  strongly  recommend- 
ing a  change,  and,  in  his  letter  to  the  Secretary,  hinting  very  dis- 
tinctly at  political  considerations  as  the  ground  of  the  movement 
Other  officers  in  the  service  of  the  Government  took  an  interest 
in  the  matter,  and  urged  a  change ;  and  the  Secretary  himself 
wrote  to  the  Bank,  suggesting  and  recommending  it.  The  time 
had  come,  then,  for  the  Bank  to  take  its  position.  It  did  take  it; 
and,  in  my  judgment,  if  it  had  not  acted  as  it  did  act,  not  only  would 
those  who  had  the  care  of  it  been  most  highly  censurable,  but  a 
claim  would  have  been  yielded  to  entirely  inconsistent  with  a 
government  of  laws,  and  subversive  of  the  very  foundations  of 
Republicanism. 

A  long  correspondence  between  the  Secretary  of  the  Trensurv 
and  the  President  of  the  Bank  ensued.  The  Directors  determined 
that  thev  would  not  surrender  either  their  rights  or  their  duties  to 
the  control  or  supervision  of  the  Executive  Government.  They 
said  thev  had  never  appointed  Directors  of  their  Branches  on  po- 
litical grounds,  and  they  would  net  remove  them  on  such  grounds. 
They  had  avoided  politics.  They  had  sought  for  men  of  business, 


24 


capacity,  fidelity,  and  experience  in  the  management  of  pecuniary 
concerns.  They  owed  duties,  they  said,  to  the  Government, 
which  they  meant  to  perform,  faithfully  and  impartially,  under  all 
administrations  ;  and  they  owed  duties  to  the  stockholders  of  the 
Bank,  which  required  them  to  disregard  political  considerations 
in  their  appointments.  This  correspondence  ran  along  into  the 
fall  of  the  year,  and  finally  terminated  in  a  stern  and  unanimous 
declaration,  made  by  the  Directors,  and  transmitted  to  the  Secre- 
tary df  the  Treasury,  that  the  Bank  would  continue  to  be  inde- 
pendently administered,  and  that  the  Directors,  once  for  all,  re- 
fused to  submit  to  the  supervision  of  the  Executive  authority  in 
any  of  its  branches,  in  the  appointment  of  local  directors  and 
agents.  This  resolution  decided  the  character  of  the  future. 
Hostility  towards  the  Bank  thenceforward  became  the  settled 
policy  of  the  Government;  and  the  Message  of  December,  1829, 
was  the  clear  announcement  of  that  policy.  If  the  Bank  had  ap- 
pointed those  Directors  thus  recommended  by  members  of  Con- 
gress ;  if  it  had  submitted  all  its  appointments  to  the  supervision 
of  the  Treasury;  if  it  had  removed  the  President  of  the  New- 
Hampshire  Branch  ;  if  it  had,  in  all  things,  showed  itself  a  com- 
plying, political  party  machine,  instead  of  an  independent  institu- 
tion ;  if  it  had  done  this,  I  leave  all  men  to  judge  whether  such  an 
entire  change  of  opinion,  as  to  its  constitutionality,  its  utility,  and 
its  good  efTects  on  the  currency,  would  have  happened  between 
March  and  December. 

From  the  moment  in  which  the  Bank  asserted  its  independence 
of  Treasury  control,  and  its  elevation  above  mere  party  purposes, 
down  to  the  end  of  its  charter,  and  down  even  to  the  present  day, 
it  has  been  the  subject  to  which  the  selectest  phrases  of  party  de- 
nunciation have  been  plentifully  applied. 

But  Congress  manifested  no  disposition  to  establish  a  Treasury 
Bank.  On  the  contrary,  it  was  satisfied,  and  so  was  the  country 
most  unquestionably,  with  the  Bank  then  existing.  In  the  sum- 
mer of  1832,  Congress  passed  an  act  for  continuing  the  char- 
ter of  the  Bank  by  strong  majorities  in  both  Houses.  In  the 
House  of  Representatives,  I  think,  two  thirds  of  the  members 
voted  for  the  Bill.  The  President  gave  it  his  negative  ;  and  as 
there  were  not.  two  thirds  of  the  Senate,  though  a  large  majority 
were  for  it,  the  Bill  failed  to  become  a  law. 

But  it  was  not  enough  that  a  continuance  of  the  charter  of  the 
Bank  was  thus  refused.  It  had  the  depositc  of  the  public  money, 
and  this  it  was  entitled  to  by  law  for  the  few  years  which  yet 
remained  of  its  chartered  term.  But  this  it  was  determined  it 
should  not  enjoy.  At  the  commencement  of  the  session  of 
1832-3,  a  grave  and  sober  doubt  was  expressed  by  the  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury,  in  his  official  communication,  whether  the  pub- 
lic moneys  were  safe  in  the  custody  of  the  Bank  !  I  confess, 
Gentlemen,  when  I  look  back  to  this  suggestion,  thus  officially 


25 


made,  so  serious  in  its  import,  so  unjust  if  not  well  founded,  and 
bo  greatly  injurious  to  the  credit  of  the  Bank,  and  injurious,  in- 
deed, to  the  credit  of  the  whole  country,  I  cannot  but  wonder  that 
any  man  of  intelligence  and  character  should  have  been  willing  to 
make  it.  I  read  in  it,  however,  the  first  lines  of  another  chapter. 
I  saw  an  attempt  was  now  to  be  made  to  remove  the  Deposites, 
and  such  an  attempt  was  made  that  very  session.  But  Con- 
gress was  not  to  be  prevailed  upon  to  accomplish  the  end  by 
its  own  authority.  It  was  well  ascertained  that  neither  House 
would  consent  to  it.  The  House  of  Representatives,  indeed,  at 
the  heel  of  the  session,  decided  against  the  proposition  by  a  very 
large  majority. 

The  Legislative  authority  having  been  thus  invoked  and  in- 
voked in  vain,  it  was  resolved  to  stretch  farther  the  long  arm  of 
Executive  power,  and  by  that  arm  to  reach  and  strike  the  victim. 
It  so  happened  that  I  was  in  this  city  in  May,  1833,  and  here 
learned  from  a  very  authentic  source  that  the  Deposites  would 
be  removed  by  the  President's  order;  and  in  June,  as  afterward 
appeared,  that  order  was  given. 

Now  it  is  obvious,  Gentlemen,  that  thus  far  the  changes  in  our 
financial  and  fiscal  system  were  effected,  not  by  Congress,  but  by 
the  Executive ;  not  by  law,  but  by  the  will  and  the  power  of  the 
President.  Congress  would  have  continued  the  charter  of  the 
Bank ;  but  the  President  negatived  the  Bill.  Congress  was  of 
opinion  that  the  Deposites  ought  not  to  be  removed  ;  but  the 
President  removed  them.  Nor  was  this  all.  The  public  mon- 
eys being  withdrawn  from  the  custody  which  the  law  had  provi- 
ded by  Executive  power  alone,  that  same  power  selected  the 
places  for  their  future  keeping.  Particular  Banks,  existing  under 
State  charters,  were  chosen.  With  these,  especial  and  particular 
arrangements  were  made,  and  the  public  moneys  were  deposited 
in  their  vaults.  Henceforward  these  selected  Banks  were  to  op- 
erate on  the  revenue  and  credit  of  the  Government;  and  thus  the 
original  scheme,  promulgated  in  the  Annual  Message  of  Decem- 
ber, 1829,  was  substantially  carried  into  effect.  Here  were 
Banks  chosen  by  the  Treasury ;  all  the  arrangements  made  with 
them  made  bv  the  Treasury;  a  set  of  duties  prescribed  to  be 
performed  by  them  to  the  Treasury ;  and  these  Banks  were  to 
hold  the  whole  proceeds  of  the  public  revenue.  In  all  this  Con- 
gress had  neither  part  nor  lot.  No  law  had  caused  the  removal 
of  the  Deposites;  no  law  had  authorized  the  selection  of  Depos- 
its State  Banks ;  no  law  had  prescribed  the  terms  on  which  the 
revenues  should  be  placed  in  such  Banks.  From  the  beginning 
of  the  chapter  to  the  end,  it  was  all  Executive  Edict.  And  now, 
Gentlemen,  I  ask  if  it  be  not  most  remarkable,  that  in  a  country 
professing  to  be  under  a  government  of  laws,  such  great  and  im- 
portant changes  in  one  of  its  most  essential  and  vital  interests 
should  be  brought  about  without  any  change  of  law,  without  any 


26 


enactment  of  the  Legislature  whatever.  Is  such  a  power  trusted 
to  the  Executive  of  any  Government,  in  which  the  Executive  is 
separated  by  clear  and  well-defined  lines  from  the  Legislative 
Department  ?  The  currency  of  the  country  stands  on  the  same 
general  ground  as  the  commerce  of  the  country.  Both  are  inti- 
mately connected,  and  both  are  subjects  of  legal,  not  of  Execu- 
tive regulation. 

It  is  worthy  of  notice,  that  the  writers  of  the  Federalist,  in  dis- 
cussing the  powers  which  the  Constitution  conferred  on  the  Pres- 
ident, made  it  matter  of  commendation  that  it  withdraws  this 
subject  altogether  from  his  grasp.  "  He  can  prescribe  no  rules," 
say  they,  "  concerning  the  commerce  or  currency  of  the  coun- 
try." And  so  we  have  been  all  taught  to  think  under  all  former 
administrations.  But  we  have  now  seen  that  the  President,  and 
the  President  alone,  does  prescribe  the  rule  concerning  the  cur- 
rency. He  makes  it  and  he  alters  it.  He  makes  one  rule  for 
one  branch  of  the  revenue,  and  another  rule  for  another.  He 
makes  one  rule  for  the  citizen  of  one  State,  and  another  for  the 
citizen  of  another  State.  This,  it  is  certain,  is  one  part  of  the 
Treasury  order  of  July  last. 

But  at  last  Congress  interfered,  and  undertook  to  regulate  the 
Deposites  of  the  public  Moneys.  It  passed  the  law  of  July,  1836, 
placing  the  subject  under  legal  control,  restraining  the  power  of 
the  Executive,  subjecting  the  Banks  to  liabilities  and  duties  on 
the  one  hand,  and  securing  them  against  Executive  favouritism  on 
the  other.  But  this  law  contained  another  important  provision  ; 
which  was,  that  all  the  money  in  the  Treasury,  beyond  what  was 
necessary  for  the  current  expenditures  of  the  Government,  should 
be  deposited  with  the  States.  This  measure  passed  both  Houses 
by  very  unusual  majorities,  yet  it  hardly  escaped  a  veto.  It  ob- 
tained only  a  cold  assent,  a  slow,  reluctant,  and  hesitating  ap- 
proval ;  and  an  early  moment  was  seized  to  array  against  it  a 
long  list  of  objections.  But  the  law  passed.  The  money  in  the 
Treasury,  beyond  the  sum  of  five  millions,  was  to  go  to  the  States  ; 
it  has  so  gone,  and  the  Treasury  for  the  present  is  relieved  from 
the  burden  of  a  surplus.  But  now  observe  other  coincidences. 
In  the  Annual  Message  of  December,  1835,  the  President  quoted 
the  fact  of  the  rapidly  increasing  sale  of  the  Public  Lands  as 
proof  of  high  national  prosperity.  He  alluded  to  that  subject, 
certainly,  with  much  satisfaction,  and  apparently  in  something  of 
the  tone  of  exultation.  There  was  nothing  said  about  monopoly, 
not  a  word  about  speculation,  not  a  word  about  over  issues  of 
paper  to  pay  for  the  lands.  All  was  prosperous,  all  was  full  of 
evidence  of  a  wise  administration  of  Government,  all  was  joy  and 
triumph. 

But  the  idea  of  a  deposite  or  distribution  of  the  surplus  monev 
with  the  people  suddenly  damped  this  effervescing  happiness. 
The  colour  of  the  rose  was  gone,  and  everything  now  looked 


27 

gloomy  and  black.  Now  no  more  felicitation  or  congratulation 
on  account  of  the  rapid  sales  of  the  Public  Lands  ;  no  more  of 
this  most  decisive  proof  of  national  prosperity  and  happiness. 
The  Executive  muse  takes  up  a  melancholy  strain.  She  sings 
of  monopolies,  of  speculation,  of  worthless  paper,  of  loss  both  of 
land  and  money,  of  the  multiplication  of  Banks,  and  the  danger 
of  paper  issues  ;  and  the  end  of  the  canto,  the  catastrophe,  is, 
that  lands  shall  be  no  longer  sold  but  for  gold  and  silver  alone. 
The  object  of  all  this  is  clear  enough.  It  was  to  diminish  the  in- 
come from  the  Public  Lands.  But  no  desire  for  such  a  diminu- 
tion had  been  manifested  so  long  as  the  money  was  supposed  to 
be  likely  to  remain  in  the  Treasury.  But  a  growing  conviction 
that  some  other  disposition  must  be  made  of  the  surplus  awakened 
attention  to  the  means  of  preventing  that  surplus. 

Towards  the  end  of  the  last  session,  Gentlemen,  a  proposition 
was  brought  forward  in  Congress  for  such  an  alteration  of  the 
law  as  should  admit  payment  for  Public  Lands  to  be  made  in 
nothing  but  gold  and  silver.  The  mover  voted  for  his  own  prop- 
osition ;  but  I  do  not  recollect  that  any  other  member  concurred 
in  the  vote.  The  proposition  was  rejected  at  once  ;  but,  as  in 
other  cases,  that  which  Congress  refused  to  do  the  Executive 
powrer  did.  Ten  days  after  Congress  adjourned,  having  had  this 
matter  before  it,  and  having  refused  to  act  upon  it  by  making  any 
alteration  in  the  existing  laws,  a  Treasury  order  was  issued  com- 
manding the  very  thing  to  be  done  which  Congress  had  been  re- 
quested to  do  and  had  refused  to  do.  Just  as  in  the  case  of  the 
removal  of  the  Deposites,  the  Executive  power  acted,  in  this  case 
also,  against  the  known,  well-understood,  and  recently-expressed 
will  of  the  Representatives  of  the  People.  There  never  has  been 
a  moment  when  the  Legislative  will  would  have  sanctioned  the 
object  of  that  order.  Probably  never  a  moment  in  which  any 
twenty  individual  members  of  Congress  would  have  concurred  in 
it.  The  act  was  done  without  the  assent  of  Congress,  and  against 
the  well-known  opinion  of  Congress.  That  act  altered  the  law 
of  the  land,  or  purports  to  alter  it,  against  the  well-known  will  of 
the  law-making  power. 

For  one,  I  confess  I  see  no  authority  whatever  in  the  Consti- 
tution or  in  any  law  for  this  Treasury  order.  Those  who  have 
undertaken  to  maintain  it  have  placed  it  on  "rounds  not  only 
different,  but  inconsistent  and  contradictory.  The  reason  which 
one  gives,  another  rejects ;  one  confutes  what  another  argues 
With  one  it  is  the  joint  resolution  of  1816  which  gave  the  au- 
thority; with  another  it  is  the  law  of  18£0  ;  with  a  third  it  is  the 
general  superintending  power  of  the  President  ;  and  this  last 
argument,  since  it  resolves  itself  into  mere  power,  without  stop- 
ping to  point  out  the  sources  of  that  power,  is  not  only  the  short- 
est, but  in  truth  the  most  just.  He  is  the  most  sensible,  as  well 
as  the  most  candid  rcasoncr,  in  my  opinion,  who  places  this 


28 


Treasury  order  on  the  ground  of  the  pleasure  of  the  Executive, 
and  stops  there.  I  regard  the  joint  Resolution  of  1816  as  man- 
datory; as  prescribing  a  legal  rule  ;  as  putting  this  subject,  in 
which  all  have  so  deep  an  interest,  beyond  the  caprice,  or  the 
arbitrary  pleasure,  or  the  discretion  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treas- 
ury. I  believe  there  is  not  the  slightest  legal  authority,  either 
in  that  officer  or  in  the  President,  to  make  a  distinction,  and  to 
say  that  paper  may  be  received  for  debts  at  the  Custom  House, 
but  that  gold  and  silver  only  shall  be  received  at  the  Land  Offices. 
And  now  for  the  sequel. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  last  session,  as  you  know,  Gen- 
tlemen, a  Resolution  was  brought  forward  in  the  Senate  for  an- 
nulling and  abrogating  this  order  by  Mr.  Ewing,  a  gentleman  of 
much  intelligence,  of  sound  principles,  of  vigorous  and  energetic 
character,  whose  loss  from  the  service  of  the  country  I  regard 
as  a  public  misfortune.  The  Whig  members  all  supported  this 
Resolution,  and  all  the  members,  I  believe,  with  the  exception 
of  some  five  or  six,  were  very  anxious,  in  some  way,  to  get  rid  of 
the  Treasury  Order.  But  Mr.  Ewing's  Resolution  was  too  di- 
rect. It  was  deemed  a  pointed  and  ungracious  attack  on  Exec- 
utive policy.  Therefore  it  must  be  softened,  modified,  qualified, 
made  to  sound  less  harsh  to  the  ears  of  men  in  power,  and  to 
assume  a  plausible,  polished,  inoffensive  character.  It  was  ac- 
cordingly put  into  the  plastic  hands  of  friends  of  the  Executive 
to  be  moulded  and  fashioned,  so  that  it  might  have  the  effect  of 
ridding  the  country  of  the  obnoxious  order,  and  yet  not  appear  to 
question  Executive  infallibility.  All  this  did  not  answer.  The 
late  President  is  not  a  man  to  be  satisfied  with  soft  words ;  and 
he  saw  in  the  measure,  even  as  it  passed  the  two  Houses,  a  sub- 
stantial repeal  of  the  order.  He  is  a  man  of  boldness  and  de- 
cision ;  and  he  respects  boldness  and  decision  in  others.  If  you 
are  his  friend,  he  expects  no  flinching ;  and  if  you  are  his  ad- 
versary, he  respects  you  none  the  less  for  carrying  your  opposi- 
tion to  the  full  limits  of  honourable  warfare.  Gentlemen,  I  most 
sincerely  regret  the  course  of  the  President  in  regard  to  this  bill, 
and  certainly  most  highly  disapprove  it.  But  I  do  not  suffer  the 
mortification  of  having  attempted  to  disguise  and  garnish  it,  in 
order  to  make  it  acceptable,  and  of  still  finding  it  thrown  back 
in  my  face.  All  that  was  obtained  by  this  ingenious,  diplomatic, 
and  overcourteous  mode  of  enacting  a  law,  was  a  response  from 
the  President  and  the  Attorney  General  that  the  Bill  in  question 
was  obscure,  ill-penned,  and  not  easy  to  be  understood.  The 
Bill,  therefore,  was  neither  approved  nor  negatived.  If  it  had 
been  approved,  the  Treasury  order  would  have  been  annulled, 
though  in  a  clumsy  and  objectionable  manner.  If  it  had  been 
negatived  and  returned  to  Congress,  no  doubt  it  would  have  been 
passed  by  two  thirds  of  both  Houses,  and  in  that  way  become  a 
law,  and  abrogated  the  order.    But  it  was  not  approved,  it  was 


29 


not  returned ;  it  was  retained.  It  had  passed  the  Senate  in  sea- 
son ;  it  had  been  sent  to  the  House  in  season ;  but  there  it  wa3 
suffered  to  lie  so  long  without  being  called  up,  that  it  was  com- 
pletely in  the  power  of  the  President  when  it  finally  passed  that 
body;  since  he  is  not  obliged  to  return  Bills  which  he  does  not 
approve,  if  not  presented  to  him  in  ten  days  before  the  end  of  the 
Session.  The  Bill  was  lost,  therefore,  and  the  Treasury  order 
remains  in  force.  Here  again  the  Representatives  of  the  People, 
in  both  Houses  of  Congress,  by  majorities  almost  unprecedented, 
endeavoured  to  abolish  this  obnoxious  order.  On  hardly  any  sub- 
ject, indeed,  has  opinion  been  so  unanimous,  either  in  or  out  of 
Congress.    Yet  the  order  remains. 

And  now,  Gentlemen,  I  ask  you,  and  I  ask  all  men  who  have 
not  voluntarily  surrendered  all  power  and  all  right  of  thinking  for 
themselves,  whether,  from  1832  to  the  present  moment,  the  Exec- 
utive authority  has  not  effectually  superseded  the  power  of  Con- 
gress, thwarted  the  will  of  the  Representatives  of  the  People, 
and  even  of  the  People  themselves,  and  taken  the  whole  subject 
of  the  currency  into  its  own  grasp  ?  In  1832,  Congress  desired 
to  continue  the  Bank  of  the  United  States,  and  a  majority  of  the 
People  desired  it  also ;  but  the  President  opposed  it,  and  his  will 
prevailed.  In  1833,  Congress  refused  to  remove  the  Deposites  ; 
the  President  resolved  upon  it,  however,  and  his  will  prevailed. 
Congress  has  never  been  willing  to  make  a  Bank,  founded  on  the 
money  and  credit  of  the  Government,  and  administered,  of  course, 
by  Executive  hands  ;  but  this  was  the  President's  object,  and  he 
attained  it  in  a  great  measure  by  the  Treasury  selection  of  De- 
posite  Banks.  In  this  particular,  therefore,  to  a  great  extent,  his 
will  prevailed.  In  1836,  Congress  refused  to  confine  the  receipts 
for  public  lands  to  gold  and  silver ;  but  the  President  willed  it, 
and  his  will  prevailed.  In  1837,  both  Houses  of  Congress,  by 
more  than  two  thirds,  passed  a  Bill  for  restoring  the  former  state 
of  things  by  annulling  the  Treasury  order;  but  the  President 
willed,  notwithstanding,  that  the  order  should  remain  in  force,  and 
his  v ill  again  prevailed.  I  repeat  the  question,  therefore,  and  I 
would  put  it  earnestly  to  every  intelligent  man,  to  every  lover  of 
our  Constitutional  liberty — are  we  under  the  dominion  of  the 
Law  ?  or  has  the  effectual  government  of  the  Country,  at  least  in 
all  that  regards  the  greatest  interest  of  the  currency,  been  in  a 
single  hand  ? 

Gentlemen,  I  have  done  with  the  narrative  of  events  and  meas- 
ures. I  have  done  with  the  history  of  these  successive  steps  in 
the  progress  of  Executive  power  towards  a  complete  control  ovef 
the  revenue  and  the  currency. 

The  result  is  now  all  before  us.  These  pretended  reforms, 
these  extraordinary  exercises  of  power  from  an  extraordinary  y.csL 
for  the  good  of  the  People — what  have  thev  brought  us  to  7 

In  1829,  the  currency  was  declared  to  be  neither  sound  n(A 


30 


uniform ;  a  proposition,  in  my  judgment,  altogether  at  variance 
with  the  fact,  because  I  do  not  believe  there  ever  was  a  country, 
of  equal  extent,  in  which  paper  formed  any  part  of  the  circulation, 
that  possessed  a  currency  so  sound,  so  uniform,  so  convenient, 
and  so  perfect  in  all  respects,  as  the  currency  of  this  Country,  at 
the  moment  of  the  delivery  of  that  message  in  1829. 

But  how  is  it  now  ?  Where  has  the  improvement  brought  it  ? 
What  has  reform  done  ?  What  has  the  great  cry  for  hard  money 
accomplished  ?  Is  the  currency  uniform  now  ?  Is  money  in 
New-Orleans  now  as  good,  or  nearly  so,  as  money  in  New-York  ? 
Are  exchanges  at  par,  or  only  at  the  same  low  rates  as  in  1829 
and  other  years  ?  Every  one  here  knows  that  all  the  benefits  of 
this  experiment  are  but  injury  and  oppression ;  all  this  reform 
but  aggravated  distress. 

And  as  to  the  soundness  of  the  currency,  how  does  that  stand  ? 
Are  the  causes  of  alarm  less  now  than  in  1829?  Is  there  less 
Bank  paper  in  circulation  ?  Is  there  less  fear  of  a  general  catas- 
trophe ?  Is  property  more  secure,  or  industry  more  certain  of 
its  reward  ?  We  all  know,  Gentlemen,  that  during  all  this  pre- 
tended warfare  against  all  Banks,  Banks  have  vastly  increased. 
Millions  upon  millions  of  Bank  paper  have  been  added  to  the  cir- 
culation. Everywhere,  and  nowhere  so  much  as  where  the  pres- 
ent administration  and  its  measures  have  been  most  zealously 
supported,  Banks  have  multiplied  under  State  authority,  since  the 
decree  was  made  that  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  should  be 
suffered  to  expire.  Look  at  Mississippi,  Missouri,  Louisiana, 
Virginia,  and  other  States.  .Do  we  not  see  that  Banking  capital 
and  Bank  paper  are  enormously  increasing  ?  The  opposition  to 
Banks,  therefore,  so  much  professed,  whether  it  be  real  or  whether 
it  be  but  pretended,  has  not  restrained  either  their  number  or  their 
issues  of  paper.    Both  have  vastly  increased. 

And  now  a  word  or  two,  Gentlemen,  upon  this  hard  money 
scheme,  and  the  fancies  and  the  delusions  to  which  it  has  given 
birth.  Gentlemen,  this  is  a  subject  of  delicacy,  and  one  which  it 
is  difficult  to  treat  with  sufficient  caution  in  a  popular  and  occa- 
sional address  like  this.  I  profess  to  be  a  bullionist,  in  the  usual 
and  accepted  sense  of  that  word.  I  am  for  a  solid  specie  basis 
for  our  circulation,  and  for  specie  as  a  part  of  the  circulation,  so 
far  as  it  may  be  practicable  and  convenient.  I  am  for  giving  no 
value  to  paper  merely  as  paper.  I  abhor  paper;  that  is  to  say, 
irredeemable  paper,  paper  that  may  not  be  converted  into  gold  or 
silver  at  the  will  of  the  holder.  But  while  I  hold  to  all  this,  I 
believe  also  that  an  exclusive  gold  and  silver  circulation  is  an 
utter  impossibility  in  the  present  state  of  this  country  and  of  the 
world.  We  shall  none  of  us  ever  see  it ;  and  it  is  credulity  and 
folly,  in  my  opinion,  to  act  under  any  such  hope  or  expectation. 
The  States  will  make  Banks,  and  these  will  issue  paper ;  and  the 
longer  the  Government  of  the  United  States  neglects  its  duty  in 


81 


regard  to  measures  for  regulating  the  currency,  the  greater  will 
be  the  amount  of  Bank  paper  overspreading  the  country.  Of 
this  I  entertain  not  a  particle  of  doubt. 

While  I  thus  hold  to  the  absolute  and  indispensable  necessity 
of  gold  and  silver  as  the  foundation  of  our  circulation,  I  yet  think 
nothing  more  absurd  and  preposterous  than  unnatural  and  strained 
efforts  to  import  specie.    There  is  but  so  much  specie  in  the 
world,  and  its  amount  cannot  be  greatly  or  suddenly  increased. 
Indeed,  there  are  reasons  for  supposing  that  its  amount  has  re- 
cently diminished  by  tiie  quantity  used  in  manufactures,  and  by 
the  diminished  products  of  the  mines.    The  existing  amount  of 
specie,  however,  must  support  the  paper  circulations,  and  the 
systems  of  currency,  not  of  the  United  States  only,  but  of  other 
nations  also.    One  of  its  great  uses  is  to  pass  from  country  to 
country,  for  the  purpose  of  settling  occasional  balances  in  com- 
mercial transactions.    It  always  finds  its  way  naturally  and  easily 
to  places  where  it  is  needed  for  these  uses.    But  to  take  extraor- 
dinary pains  to  bring  it  where  the  course  of  trade  does  not  bring  it, 
where  the  state  of  debt  and  credit  does  not  require  it  to  be,  and  then 
to  endeavour,  by  unnecessary  and  injurious  regulations,  Treasury 
orders,  accumulations  at  the  Mint,  and  other  contrivances,  there  to 
retain  it,  is  a  course  of  policy  bordering,  as  it  appears  to  me,  on  po- 
litical insanity.   It  is  boasted  that  we  have  seventy-five  or  eighty 
millions  of  specie  now  in  the  country.   But  what  more  senseless, 
what  more  absurd  than  this  boast,  if  there  is  a  balance  against 
us  abroad,  of  which  payment  is  desired,  sooner  than  remittances 
of  our  own  products  are  likely  to  make  that  payment  ?  What 
more  miserable  than  to  boast  of  having  that  which  is  not  ours — 
which  belongs  to  others,  and  which  the  convenience  of  others, 
and  our  own  convenience  also,  requires  that  they  should  possess  ? 
If  Boston  were  in  debt  to  New-York,  would  it  be  wrise  in  Boston, 
instead  of  paying  its  debt,  to  contrive  all  possible  means  of  ob- 
taining specie  from  the  New-York  Banks,  and  hoarding  it  at 
home  ?    And  yet  this,  as  I  think,  would  be  precisely  as  sensible 
as  the  course  which  the  Government  of  the  United  States  at 
present  pursues.    WTe  have,  without  all  doubt,  a  great  amount  of 
specie  in  the  country,  but  it  does  not  answer  its  accustomed  end, 
it  does  not  perform  its  proper  duty.    It  neither  goes  abroad  to 
settle  balances  against  us,  and  thereby  quiet  those  who  have  de- 
mands upon  us  ;  nor  is  it  so  disposed  of  at  home  as  to  sustain 
the  circulation  to  the  extent  which  the  circumstances  of  the  times 
require.    A  great  part  of  it  is  in  the  Western  Banks,  in  the  Land 
Offices,  on  the  roads  through  the  Wilderness,  on  the  passages 
over  the  Lakes,  from  the  Land  Offices  to  the  Depositc  Banks, 
and  from  the  Depositc  Banks  back  to  the  Land  Offices.  Another 
portion  is  in  the  hands  of  buyers  and  sellers  of  specie  ;  of 
men  in  the  West,  who  sell  Land  Office  money  to  the  new  settlers 
for  a  high  premium.    Another  portion,  again,  is  kept  in  private 


32 


hands,  to  be  used  when  circumstances  shall  tempt  to  the  purchase 
of  lands.  And,  Gentlemen,  I  am  inclined  to  think,  so  loud  has 
been  the  cry  about  hard  money,  and  so  sweeping  the  denuncia- 
tion of  all  paper,  that  private  holding  or  hoarding  prevails  to 
some  extent  in  different  parts  of  the  Country.  These  eighty 
millions  of  specie,  therefore,  really  do  us  little  good.  We  are 
weaker  in  our  circulation ;  I  have  no  doubt  our  credit  is  feebler ; 
money  is  scarcer  with  us  at  this  moment  than  if  twenty  millions 
of  this  specie  were  shipped  to  Europe,  and  general  confidence 
thereby  restored. 

Gentlemen,  I  will  not  say  that  some  degree  of  pressure  might 
not  have  come  upon  us  if  the  Treasury  order  had  not  issued.  I 
will  not  say  that  there  has  not  been  overtrading,  and  overpro- 
duction, and  a  too  great  expansion  of  Bank  circulation.  This 
may  all  be  so,  and  the  last-mentioned  evil,  it  was  easy  to  foresee, 
was  likely  to  happen,  when  the  United  States  discontinued  their 
own  Bank.  But  what  I  do  say  is,  that  acting  upon  the  state  of 
things  as  it  actually  existed  and  is  now  actually  existing,  the 
Treasury  order  has  been,  and  now  is,  productive  of  great  distress. 
It  acts  upon  a  state  of  things  which  gives  extraordinary  force  to 
its  stroke  and  extraordinary  point  to  its  sting.  It  arrests  specie, 
when  the  free  use  and  circulation  of  specie  are  most  important ; 
it  cripples  the  Banks,  at  a  moment  when  the  Banks,  more  than 
ever,  need  all  their  means.  It  makes  the  merchant  unable  to 
remit,  when  remittance  is  necessary  for  his  own  credit,  and  for 
the  general  adjustment  of  commercial  balances.  I  am  not  now 
discussing  the  general  question  whether  prices  must  not  come 
down,  and  adjust  themselves  anew  to  the  amount  of  bullion  ex- 
isting in  Europe  and  America ;  I  am  dealing  only  with  the 
measures  of  our  own  Government  on  the  subject  of  the  currency, 
and  I  insist  that  these  measures  have  been  most  unfortunate  and 
most  ruinous  on  the  ordinary  means  of  our  circulation  at  home, 
and  on  our  ability  of  remittance  abroad. 

Their  effects,  too,  by  deranging  and  misplacing  the  specie 
which  is  in  the  country,  are  most  disastrous  on  domestic  ex- 
changes. Let  him  who  has  lent  an  ear  to  all  these  promises  of 
a  more  uniform  currency  see  how  he  can  now  sell  his  draught  on 
New-Orleans  or  Mobile.  Let  the  Northern  manufacturers  and 
mechanics,  those  who  have  sold  the  products  of  their  labour  to 
the  South,  and  heretofore  realized  the  prices,  with  little  loss  of. 
exchange,  let  them  try  present  facilities.  Let  them  see  what  re- 
form of  the  currency  has  done  for  them.  Let  them  inquire 
whether  in  this  respect  their  condition  is  better  or  worse  than  it 
was  five  or  six  years  ago. 

Gentlemen,  I  hold  this  disturbance  of  the  measure  of  value  and 
the  means  of  payment  and  exchange,  this  derangement,  and,  if  ] 
may  so  say,  this  violation  of  the  currency,  to  be  one  of  the  most 
unpardonable  of  political  faults.    He  who  tampers  with  the  cur- 


33 


rency  robs  labour  of  its  bread.  He  panders,  indeed,  to  greedy 
capital,  which  is  keen-sighted,  and  may  shift  for  itself;  but  he 
beggars  labour,  which  is  honest,  unsuspecting,  and  too  busy  with 
the  present  to  calculate  for  the  future.  The  prosperity  of  the 
working  classes  lives,  moves,  and  has  its  being  in  established 
credit  and  a  steady  medium  of  payment.  All  sudden  changes 
destroy  it.  Honest  industry  never  comes  in  for  any  part  of  the 
spoils  in  that  scramble  which  takes  place  when  the  currency  of 
a  country  is  disordered.  Did  wild  schemes  and  projects  ever 
benefit  the  industrious  ?  Did  irredeemable  Bank  paper  ever  en- 
rich the  laborious  ?  Did  violent  fluctuations  ever  do  good  to  him 
who  depends  on  his  daily  labour  for  his  daily  bread  ?  Certainly 
never.  All  these  things  may  gratify  greediness  for  sudden  gain, 
or  the  rashness  of  daring  speculation  ;  but  they  can  bring  nothing 
but  injury  and  distress  to  the  homes  of  patient  industry  and  honest 
labour.  Who  are  they  that  profit  by  the  present  state  of  things  ? 
They  are  not  the  many,  but  the  few.  They  are  speculators, 
brokers,  dealers  in  money,  and  lenders  of  money  at  exorbitant 
interest.  Small  capitalists  are  crushed,  and  their  means,  being 
dispersed,  as  usual,  in  various  parts  of  the  country,  and  this  mis- 
erable policy  having  destroyed  exchanges,  they  have  no  longer 
either  money  or  credit.  And  all  classes  of  labour  partake,  and 
must  partake,  in  the  same  calamity.  And  what  consolation  for 
all  this  is  it,  that  the  public  lands  are  paid  for  in  specie  ?  That 
whatever  embarrassment  and  distress  pervade  the  country,  the 
Western  wilderness  is  thickly  sprinkled  over  with  eagles  and  dol- 
lars ?  That  gold  goes  weekly  from  Milwaukie  and  Chicago  to 
Detroit,  and  back  again  from  Detroit  to  Milwaukie  and  Chicago, 
and  performs  similar  feats  of  egress  and  regress,  in  many  other 
instances,  in  the  Western  States  ?  It  is  remarkable  enough,  that 
with  all  this  sacrifice  of  general  convenience,  with  all  this  sky- 
rending  clamour  for  government  payments  in  specie,  Government, 
after  all,  never  gets  a  dollar.  So  far  as  I  know,  the  United  States 
have  not  now  a  single  specie  dollar  in  the  world.  If  they  have, 
where  is  it  ?  The  gold  and  silver  collected  at  the  Land  Offices 
is  sent  to  the  Deposite  Banks ;  it  is  there  placed  to  the  credit  of 
the  Government,  and  thereby  becomes  the  property  of  the  Bank. 
The  whole  revenues  of  the  Government,  therefore,  after  all,  con- 
sists in  mere  Bank  credits;  that  very  sort  of  security  which  the 
friends  of  the  administration  have  so  much  denounced. 

Remember,  Gentlemen,  in  the  midst  of  this  deafening  din 
against  all  Banks,  that  if  it  shall  create  such  a  panic  or  such 
alarm  as  shall  shut  up  the  Banks,  it  will  shut  up  the  Treasury 
of  the  United  States  also. 

Gentlemen,  I  would  not  willingly  be  a  prophet  of  ill.  I  most 
devoutly  wish  to  see  a  better  state  of  things ;  and  I  believe  the 
repeal  of  the  Treasury  order  would  tend  very  much  to  bring 
about  that  better  state  of  things.    And  I  am  of  opinion,  Gentle- 


34 


men,  that  the  order  will  be  repealed.  I  think  it  must  be  repealed. 
I  think  the  East,  West,  North,  and  South  will  demand  its  repeal. 
But,  Gentlemen,  I  feel  it  my  duty  to  say,  that  if  I  should  be  dis- 
appointed in  this  expectation,  I  see  no  immediate  relief  to  the 
distresses  of  the  community.  I  greatly  fear,  even,  that  the  worst 
is  not  yet.  I  look  for  severer  distresses  ;  for  extreme  difficulties 
in  exchange  ;  for  far  greater  inconveniences  in  remittance,  and 
for  a  sudden  fall  in  prices.  Our  condition  is  one  which  is  not  to 
be  tampered  with ;  and  the  repeal  of  the  Treasury  order  being 
something  which  Government  can  do,  and  which  will  do  good,  the 
public  voice  is  right  in  demanding  that  repeal.  It  is  true,  if  re- 
pealed now,  the  relief  will  come  late.  Nevertheless,  its  repeal 
or  abrogation  is  a  thing  to  be  insisted  on  and  pursued  till  it  shall 
be  accomplished.  This  Executive  control  over  the  currency, 
this  power  of  discriminating  by  Treasury  order  between  one 
man's  debt  and  another  man's  debt,  is  a  thing  not  to  be  endured 
in  a  free  country ;  and  it  should  be  the  constant,  persisting  de- 
mand of  all  true  Whigs — "  rescind  the  illegal  Treasury  order ; 
restore  the  rule  of  the  law ;  place  all  branches  of  the  Revenue 
on  the  same  grounds ;  make  men's  rights  equal ;  and  leave  the 
Government  of  the  Country  where  the  Constitution  leaves  it,  in 
the  hands  of  the  Representatives  of  the  People  in  Congress." 
This  point  should  never  be  surrendered  or  compromised.  What- 
ever is  established,  let  it  be  equal,  and  let  it  be  legal.  Let  men 
know  to-day  what  money  may  be  required  of  them  to-morrow.  Let 
the  rule  be  open  and  public  on  the  pages  of  the  Statute  Book,  not 
a  secret  in  the  Executive  breast. 

Gentlemen,  in  the  session  which  has  now  just  closed,  I  have 
done  my  utmost  to  effect  a  direct  and  immediate  repeal  of  the 
Treasury  order. 

I  have  voted  for  a  Bill,  anticipating  the  payment  of  the  French 
and  Neapolitan  Indemnities  by  an  advance  from  the  Treasury. 

I  have  voted  with  great  satisfaction  for  the  restoration  of  duties 
on  goods  destroyed  in  the  great  conflagration  in  this  City. 

I  have  voted  for  a  deposite  with  the  States  of  the  surplus 
which  may  be  in  the  Treasury  at  the  end  of  the  year.  All  these 
measures  have  failed;  and  it  is  for  you,  and  for  our  fellow-citi- 
zens throughout  the  country,  to  decide  whether  the  public  inter- 
est would  or  would  not  have  been  promoted  by  their  success. 

But  I  find,  Gentlemen,  that  I  am  committing  an  unpardonable 
trespass  on  your  indulgent  patience.  I  will  pursue  these  remarks 
no  further.  And  yet  I  cannot  persuade  myself  to  take  leave  of 
you  without  reminding  you,  with  the  utmost  deference  and  respect, 
of  the  important  part  assigned  to  you  in  the  political  concerns  of 
your  country,  and  of  the  great  influence  of  your  opinions,  your 
example,  and  your  efforts  upon  the  general  prosperity  and  hap- 
piness. 

Whigs  of  New-York  !    Patriotic  Citizens  of  this  great  metrop- 


35 


olis !  Lovers  of  Constitutional  Liberty,  bound  by  interest  and 
by  affection  to  the  Institutions  of  your  Country,  Americans  in 
heart  and  in  principle  ! — You  are  ready,  I  am  sure,  to  fulfil  all 
the  duties  imposed  upon  you  by  your  situation,  and  demanded  of 
you  by  your  country.  You  have  a  central  position;  your  City 
is  the  point  from  which  intelligence  emanates,  and  spreads  in  all 
directions  over  the  whole  land.  Every  hour  carries  reports  of 
your  sentiments  and  opinions  to  the  verge  of  the  Union.  You 
cannot  escape  the  responsibility  which  circumstances  have  thrown 
upon  you.  You  must  live  and  act  on  abroad  and  conspicuous  the- 
atre, either  for  good  or  for  evil  to  your  country.  You  cannot  shrink 
away  from  your  public  duties  ;  you  cannot  obscure  yourselves, 
nor  bury  your  talent.  In  the  common  welfare,  in  the  common 
prosperity,  in  the  common  glory  of  Americans,  you  have  a  stake, 
of  value  not  to  be  calculated.  You  have  an  interest  in  the  pres- 
ervation of  the  Union,  of  the  Constitution,  and  of  the  true  prin- 
ciples of  the  Government,  which  no  man  can  estimate.  You  act 
for  yourselves,  and  for  the  generations  that  are  to  come  after  you  ; 
and  those  who,  ages  hence,  shall  bear  your  names  and  partake 
your  blood,  will  feel  in  their  political  and  social  condition  the  con- 
sequences of  the  manner  in  which  you  discharge  your  political 
duties. 

Having  fulfilled,  then,  on  your  part  and  on  mine,  though  feebly 
and  imperfectly  on  mine,  the  offices  of  kindness  and  mutual  re- 
gard required  by  this  occasion,  shall  we  not  use  it  to  a  higher  and 
nobler  purpose  ?  Shall  we  not  by  this  friendly  meeting  refresh 
our  patriotism,  rekindle  our  love  of  Constitutional  Liberty,  and 
strengthen  our  resolutions  of  public  duty  ?  Shall  we  not,  in  all 
honesty  and  sincerity,  with  pure  and  disinterested  love  of  Coun- 
try, as  Americans,  looking  back  to  the  renown  of  our  ancestors, 
and  looking  forward  to  the  interests  of  our  posterity,  here,  to-night, 
pledge  our  mutual  faith  to  hold  on  to  the  last  to  our  professed 
principles,  to  the  doctrines  of  true  liberty,  and  to  the  Constitution 
of  the  Country,  let  who  will  prove  true  or  who  will  prove  recre- 
ant ?  Whigs  of  New-York  !  I  meet  you  in  advance,  and  give 
you  my  pledge  for  my  own  performance  of  these  duties,  without 
qualification  and  without  reserve.  Whether  in  public  life  or  in 
private  life,  in  the  Capitol  or  at  home,  I  mean  never  to  desert 
them.  I  mean  never  to  forget  that  I  have  a  country,  to  which  I 
am  bound  by  a  thousand  ties ;  and  the  stone  which  is  to  lie  on 
the  ground  that  shall  cover  me  shall  not  bear  the  name  of  a  son 
ungrateful  to  his  native  land. 


THE 


END. 


